LaSalle Investment Management has entered into an agreement to acquire the Real Estate Multi-Manager (REMM) business of Aviva Investors, and full ownership of the management of the Encore+ fund.
Aviva’s REMM business has $7 billion of assets under management.
The deal is expected to close by year-end.
The division will be headed up by Ed Casal, who, as part of this acquisition, will be joining LaSalle from his current role as CEO of real estate at Aviva and co-founder of its global indirect real estate business. Casal, who will be based in New York, will also be joining LaSalle’s global management committee.
LaSalle will also be acquiring Aviva’s rights and responsibilities as the fund manager of Encore+, the open-ended Continental European real estate fund that has been jointly managed and run by both parties for 11 years. LaSalle will become the sole manager of Encore+ and David Ironside will become the fund manager. The fund, which currently has a gross asset value of €1.7 billion ($1.97 billion), was recently recognized as the best-performing fund in the IPD PEPFI for 2017. It has also been the top-performing fund in the index on an aggregate five-year basis.
