Dominvs Group has appointed former iQ Student Accommodation chief investment officer Iliya Blazic as its managing director.
Blazic has joined from iQ following the sale of the business to Blackstone for £4.7bn in May last year. He was part of the executive team leading the deal, serving as chief investment officer for five years until September 2020. Before that, he held a non-executive role there for a year until 2015.
During his time at iQ Blazic led the business through its £2bn merger with Prodigy Living. His previous roles also include real estate investment principal at The Wellcome Trust, where he was responsible for managing its £2bn global real estate portfolio across commercial, residential, agricultural, data centre, hotel and student housing sectors.
Earlier in his career, he was at LaSalle Investment Management, where he oversaw a number of pension funds and LaSalle fund accounts across direct and indirect investment platforms.
In his new role, Blazic will be responsible for directing the growth of the business as well as business operations at an executive level. This includes standardising functional processes across the business; driving growth, both organically and through joint ventures; and directing the group’s expansion across the ‘beds’ sectors.
Blazic will report directly to the board.
Blazic said: “The opportunity I see is to create a truly gold-plated, institutional-standard property investment and development business that operates across a wide spectrum of property sectors, building on the group’s deep expertise in residential and hospitality.”
Preet Ahluwalia, director of Dominvs Group, said: “Over the past five years, Iliya has made a significant impact in shaping the direction and growth of the student accommodation sector in the UK.
“We are confident that Iliya will be a strong leader in the business and will be instrumental in driving the next phase of growth at the group.”
To send feedback, e-mail pui-guan.man@egi.co.uk or tweet @PuiGuanM or @estatesgazette
