Knoflach joins BNP Paribas RE to lead growth of IM unit

Barbara Knoflach, head of SEB's asset management division which has just been acquired by Savills, is leaving the company to join BNP Paribas Real Estate as global head of investment management.

'Our ambition is to continue to grow in Europe in order to better serve our corporate customers, with the objective to reach €30 bn of assets under management and consolidate our position in the Top 5 European league-table,' commented BNPPRE's CEO Thierry Laroue-Pont. 'Investment management is a strategic business line.'

In 2014, BNP Paribas Real Estate's Investment Management business line raised more than €1.7 bn of capital and at year-end managed €20.3 bn of assets in Europe, 79% of which for institutional investors.

Knoflach, who will take up her new position in the summer, will be responsible for defining the strategy for the IM business line and overseeing its execution through almost 300 employees in eight countries: France, Italy, Germany, UK, Spain, Luxembourg, Belgium and the Netherlands.

News of Knoflach's appointment came shortly after Nordic banking group SEB announced it had signed an agreement to sell its SEB Asset Management business to international property group Savills for €21.5 mln.

Knoflach has been CEO of SEB Asset Management for the past decade. Before that, Knoflach was managing director of SEB Investment. She joined the SEB Bank group in 1994, where she played a key role in establishing the closed-end real estate fund and real estate leasing areas in the first few years.

Knoflach began her career in Deutsche Bank’s International Project Financing unit in Frankfurt am Main.

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