Aviva Investors creates £37bn Real Assets business
Aviva Investors has integrated its direct real estate, infrastructure and private debt businesses to create a platform with £37 billion of assets under management.
The formation of the unit, to be known as Aviva Investors Real Assets (AIRA), was in response to an expected doubling in global allocations to alternative strategies, including real assets and private debt, by 2025, the manager said.
The business would be led by chief investment officer Mark Versey, who would oversee about 300 staff across five cities, Aviva Investors said.
Also, AIRA would have full control over fund management, asset management, origination and distribution in its chosen markets, the manager said.
As a result of AIRA’s creation, Aviva Investors also said it has entered agreements to sell its Real Estate Multi-Manager business and its stake in Encore+, a pan-European commercial property fund, to LaSalle Investment Management.
Aviva Investors CEO Euan Munro said the move to integrate the manager’s real asset capabilities into a single platform “makes sense” for clients and was a key priority for the 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,” Munro said.
Recommended for you
Outflows from an Australian private markets fund manager have caused FUM at Pacific Current to decline by $1 billion in the last quarter.
Former RIAA chief executive Simon O’Connor has joined the ethical advisory panel at U Ethical Investors.
Financial services leaders are “all cashed up with nowhere to grow” when it comes to M&A activity, according to Deloitte, with 90 per cent saying they have strong balance sheets ready for an acquisition.
As fund managers are urged to diversify their product ranges, they are finding a faster way to do this is via an acquisition of existing firms but experts say it is not without potential culture clashes.