Aviva beefs up teams
Aviva Investors has made five additions to its real estate teams in the UK and Germany. Gary Sherwin will head the investments transactions team in the UK and Daniel Lienhard will lead the team in Germany. The firm also appointed Helen Rainsford as director of retail development, Gaston Brandes head of real estate business development and Darren Freed as retail asset manager.
Record dividend for Barratt
Barratt has announced a record annual dividend of £248m or 30.7p per share, a 22% increase, as it shrugged off fears of a market slowdown. Sale rates over the past four months were 0.74 units per week, while forward sales were up by 19.5% to £2.7bn. It expects to purchase 15,000 plots in the next financial year.
Jobanputra joins CapCo
Capital & Counties has appointed Situl Jobanputra as chief financial officer. Jobanputra was previously the investment and financial director for the company’s Earls Court project, and previously worked for Deutsche Bank. He replaces Soumen Das, who will join SEGRO as chief financial officer in January.
AXA closes €600m fund
AXA Investment Managers has held a final close for its €600m (£517m) Development Venture IV fund. The fund has an eight-year life and will buy European assets with an average build-out value of €200m. It raised capital from 17 investors in nine countries and will have a total firepower of €2bn.
