Following its successful expansion into European property, Morley Fund Management has bolstered its focus on the region by today appointing specialist Minna Merilainen to the newly created position of European Fund Manager for the Norwich Union Life Funds.
- New European specialist appointed following 30% growth in assets for 2005
Following its successful expansion into European property, Morley Fund Management has bolstered its focus on the region by today appointing specialist Minna Merilainen to the newly created position of European Fund Manager for the Norwich Union Life Funds.
Minna will report to Head of Life Funds, Richard Jones and will work on managing and building Morley’s rapidly growing Norwich Union European property holdings.
Head of Life Funds Richard Jones said the new appointment reflects Morley Fund Management’s strong commitment to growing and expanding our European property portfolio and expertise.
“Our European life fund property investment assets have grown by around 30 per cent in the last year and we have secured a number of long term positions, so Minna’s specialist expertise will help ensure that this growth is maintained and continues to be effectively managed. Her experience and knowledge will augment and complement Morley’s expertise in Europe and we are delighted to welcome her to the team,” he said.
Minna Merilainen’s appointment also adds a European multi-manager capability to the Norwich Union European Life Funds team at Morley.
Morley Fund Management’s Property team manages in excess of Ł20 billion (€29bn) of UK and European property assets, making Morley one of the largest property fund managers in Europe.
With an investment career spanning over 12 years, Minna joins Morley from AXA REIM’s Paris office where she was a Senior Acquisitions Manager working in the French Acquisitions team for 18 months. Previous to AXA, she worked for Archon Group (Goldman Sachs’ property asset management business) as Senior Asset Manager in 2002-2004 and prior to that she was responsible for developing new business and negotiating sales transactions for large single assets and portfolios for Jones Lang Lasalle’s Investment Team in Paris.
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For further information please contact:
Strahan Wallis 020 7809 8618
Corporate Communications strahan.wallis@morleyfm.com
About Morley Fund Management
Morley Fund Management Limited is the UK-based asset management business of Aviva plc. Firms within the Morley group of companies manage Ł147.8bn from offices around the world as at 30 September 2005. The property team manages in excess of Ł20 billion of UK and European property assets, making Morley one of the largest property fund managers in Europe. Morley has been at the forefront of innovation in property fund management.
Visit www.morleyproperty.com