La Française appoints Gregor Volk as German development head

French fund manager La Française has announced the appointment of Gregor Volk as head of real estate development for its German operations.

The appointment is part of the fund manager's strategic development plans for Germany and follows just months after the signing of a partnership with Accelerando Associates for the distribution of securities within the German market.

Volk will operate from the company's office in Frankfurt where he will report to Philippe Peirs, head of international real estate development. In his new role, Volk will pursue development opportunities with pension schemes, insurance companies, corporates, banks, foundations and other large institutionals. His goal will be to expand the real estate business, both direct real estate and alternative real estate investment solutions.

Commenting on the appointment, Philippe Lecomte, CEO of La Française AM International and Head of Institutional Development (France and International) said La Française was setting the foundation for its European real estate platform. 'Our investors require market expertise and with the recent hiring of Philippe Peirs, Head of International Real Estate Development and now the appointment of Gregor Volk, we will be providing top notch real estate investment expertise and advisory services to international institutional investors.'

La Francaise has grown rapidly in the past year following its partnership with Forum Partners, an independent global real estate investment management firm that has offices in London, the US and Asia. Earlier this year, the pair acquired Cushman & Wakefield Investors which was subsequently rebranded as La Française Forum Real Estate Partners. The total real estate assets under management for the joint platform'currently stand at €14.5 bn.

Volk draws on a wealth of cross-asset sales experience on the German institutional market. He spent the last seven plus years with Invesco Asset Management in Frankfurt, where, as Director of Institutional Business, he specialised in real estate fund raising. Before that, he worked for Fidelity Investment, Universal Investment and Deutsche Bank.

Volk holds a degree in business administration (Diplom Kaufmann) and is a CEFA (Certified EFFAS Financial Analyst). He is due to finalise a Master in Real Estate at the European Business School later this year and is preparing for RICS (Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors) membership.