AEW CEO Christian Delaire has over EUR 2 bn burning in his pocket for investments in real estate. AEW Europe is one of the key equity players who are revving up their engines as they step up their search for affordable assets around Europe.
AEW CEO Christian Delaire has over EUR 2 bn burning in his pocket for investments in real estate. AEW Europe is one of the key equity players who are revving up their engines as they step up their search for affordable assets around Europe.
The asset manager, a unit of Natixis Global Asset Management, is also eyeing opportunities to expand its existing circle of clients, Delaire told PropertyEU in an interview at Expo Real. 'We see opportunities to acquire new mandates from institutional investors. We're seeing that happening a lot now in the US, and it is also happening increasingly in Europe.'
The discussion about the role of property fund managers and asset managers has become very topical in the past year with many institutional investors - pension funds and insurers - becoming increasingly critical about the added value of third-party managers. In some cases institutional investors are even forcing property fund managers or asset managers to hand over their responsibilities to new fund managers like AEW who have the investors’ confidence.
That is not to say that AEW Europe is sitting on its laurels. 'We have several teams dedicated exclusively to asset management, Delaire continued. ‘We are used to rolling up our sleeves and developing robust risk management processes. All of this needs to be organised.'
Read the full profile of Christian Delaire in the November edition of PropertyEU Magazine. Click on the link below to subscribe
