Aviva Investors names Asia-Pacific real estate head

Jun 23, 2009

Ian Hally, who has been leading the firm's investment strategy in Singapore since 2007, takes on the role as CEO of real estate.

Aviva Investors has appointed Ian Hally as CEO of Asia-Pacific real estate. Based in Singapore, Hally oversees the company's real estate business and investments in the region and reports to Ian Womack, Aviva Investors' global CEO of real estate.

Hally's new role builds on his experience as head of strategy and indirect investment for the Asia-Pacific real estate business. He has been based in Singapore since he joined the company in 2007. Prior to Aviva Investors, which he joined through Morley Fund Management, Hally worked for Scottish Widows Investment Partnership as director of property securities and head of property research. Before that, he worked for F&C, Ryden, and Drivers Jonas. Morley and Aviva Capital Management merged to form part of Aviva Investors in February 2008.

Aviva's strategy worldwide is to separate the property team from the rest of the asset management team, a distinction it is making in recognition of the different skill sets it believes are needed for fund managers specialising in property funds or real property assets.

Womack notes that Hally has been key to opening and expanding Aviva's real estate business, and has been at the forefront of establishing Aviva Investors' real estate investment capability in Asia.

Hally notes that having a real estate team on the ground in Asia has allowed the company to manoeuvre through the impact of the global financial crisis in this region and position itself for growth over the long term.

Aviva Investors has approximately £700m of equity committed to Asia-Pacific real estate and is invested widely across the region including in China, India, Japan and Singapore. Aviva Investors is the global asset management business of Aviva PLC.

In its current form, Aviva Investors itself is relatively new in the industry, having launched its fully integrated global asset management business only in late-2008 after first announcing it in February 2008. Aviva Investors combines businesses in Australia (Portfolio Partners), France (Aviva Gestion d'Actifs), Poland (CUIM Polska), Ireland (Hibernian Investment Managers), North America (Aviva Capital Management, MFM International, Aviva Investment Canada), Romania (CertInvest) and the UK (Morley). The group also includes a partnership with Delta Lloyd Asset Management in the Netherlands.

Aviva Investors didn't have wholly owned operations in Asia prior to the integration, and so the development of the business in this region has been an on-the-ground build up.

Aviva Investors' CEO (of the fund management company ex-real estate) in Asia-Pacific is Craig Bingham, who notes that the region is a significant part of what the fund house is trying to build globally over the next five years. To achieve Aviva Investors' goal of forming a truly global asset management company, he notes that it is critical to get the overall business in Asia right.