LaSalle Investment Management is to buy Aviva Investors’ Real Estate Multi-Manager arm and take full ownership of the management of the pair’s Encore+ fund.
Aviva has agreed the deal in order to focus on direct assets.
The deal to buy REMM, which has $7bn (£5.3bn) of assets under management, will make LaSalle one of the top five largest non-listed indirect real estate investment managers, with assets under management of $10bn across all geographies and risk profiles.
Aviva has announced the formation of new Aviva Investors Real Assets business, which will have real estate, infrastructure, structured finance and private debt under a single £37bn structure.
Casal to join LaSalle
Ed Casal (pictured) will be joining LaSalle from his current role as chief executive officer of real estate at Aviva to lead the division from New York. He will also join LaSalle’s global management committee.
At Aviva, Mark Versey has been appointed chief investment officer.
LaSalle will also be buying out Aviva’s management of the Encore+ fund, the €1.7bn joint venture run by the two. The open-ended continental European real estate fund has been running for 11 years, and was recognised as the best-performing fund in the IPD PEPFI for 2017 and on an aggregate five-year basis.
Aviva Investors has more than £37bn of assets under management and expects its allocations to alternative strategies, which include real assets and private debt, to more than double by 2025.
LaSalle and Aviva have entered into a binding contract and the deal is expected to close by the end of year.
Multi-manager capacity
Jeff Jacobson, global chief executive of LaSalle Investment Management, said: “A strong multi-manager capacity has become increasingly important to LaSalle’s clients and our global footprint and expertise provide a solid foundation to strengthen the incoming global indirect capabilities.
“This will enhance our capabilities to offer comprehensive integrated investment solutions across the risk spectrum in third-party fund investing, joint ventures and co-investments.”
Euan Munro, chief executive officer of Aviva Investors, said: “Integrating our real asset capabilities into a single platform makes sense for our clients and our business.
“By focusing on our existing origination strengths in Europe and building out our product and global distribution capabilities, I am confident that we will establish Aviva Investors as a market-leading real assets platform. This is a key priority for our business.”
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