UNITED Kingdom-based global investment manager M&G Investments is opening two offices in Australia – Sydney and Melbourne – to cater for growing client demand in the Asia Pacific region.
The firm has appointed two of its senior people – Chris Andrews as head of business development in Australia, based in Melbourne, and James MacKinnon as head of Australia, real estate, based in Sydney.
Andrews brings more than 30 years’ experience in the fund management industry and MacKinnon has more than 30 years’ real estate experience.
M&G head of institutional fixed income William Nicoll said there is a growing demand in the region.
M&G has AU$2 billion in real estate under management in Australia and its Asia Pacific core real estate fund has 14 investments in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane.
“We are seeing a growing demand from superannuation funds to diversify their portfolios through increasing allocations to international markets. Our existing Australian client base has traditionally sought our international public credit expertise, and now we’re seeing significant interest in European private debt and infrastructure investments, too.
“These appointments enable us to deepen our relationships with Australian institutional investors, enhance our client service and to partner with them on international opportunities.” Nicoll said.
Global head of real estate Tony Brown said the Melbourne and Sydney offices are a natural extension of its existing footprint in Australia.
“This places us closer to our existing assets and new investment opportunities in core real estate in Australia, as well as helping us to meet increasing local client demand for real estate investments in Europe and Asia,” he concluded.
