La Française has announced the appointment of Philippe Depoux as chairman of La Française Real Estate Managers, in a move aimed at further developing the group's real estate strategy.
He will take over from Marc Bertrand and will also become a member of the executive board of La Française group, subject to approval by the supervisory board at the end of the month.
The appointment reflects La Française’s strategy of refocusing its business on real estate and financial assets, placing real estate - which currently represents 50% of total assets under management - at the heart of its future development. Over the past 10 years, the group's real estate assets have more than quadrupled to reach €25 bn.
Looking ahead, La Française intends to speed up growth in this asset class that ‘has become crucial for all investors against the current backdrop of persistently low interest rates and in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic’, it said in a statement.
Depoux, aged 58, has spent the bulk of his career since 1986 in the world of French and international institutional real estate. Initially responsible for acquisitions, sales and appraisals at GAN Immobilier, Groupama Immobilier, and subsequently global head of transactions at AXA REIM, he became CEO of Société Foncière Lyonnaise in 2006, and assumed the same role at Generali Immobilier France in 2009 and Gecina in 2013. Since 2017, he has been the managing director of Compagnie Lebon.
