Oxford Properties Hires Blackstone’s Alessandro Fiascaris to Lead APAC Business

Canada’s Oxford Properties Group on Wednesday announced the appointment of longtime Blackstone executive Alessandro Fiascaris as senior vice president and head of investments for Asia Pacific.

Based in Singapore, Fiascaris will lead the APAC business and team for Toronto-based Oxford, the global property investment wing of the Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System (OMERS). He succeeds David Matheson, who left Oxford this month to become head of real estate for Europe at US-based Starwood Capital Group.

The hiring of Fiascaris adds to a growing team of professionals in Singapore and Sydney under Oxford, which manages more than $10 billion worth of capital in APAC, the group said in a release.

“Alessandro’s appointment allows us to add a highly respected senior leader to lead the team on the ground in Asia, bringing with him a wealth of experience to Oxford, including an impressive track record of delivering high-profile deals in multiple sectors across the region,” said Oxford president Michael Turner. “His ability to build and lead effective teams will be invaluable as we continue to increase our footprint and deploy further capital in what is an important growth region in our high-conviction investment strategies.”

Company Man Moves On

Fiascaris has spent his entire 18-year career at US private equity giant Blackstone, most recently as managing director in Singapore, where he worked on APAC deals across traditional and new sectors, Oxford said.

He holds an undergraduate degree in mathematics and theoretical physics from the University of Cambridge and an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business.

“Oxford has both the access to capital and entrepreneurial spirit to complete complex transactions across a range of entry points,” Fiascaris said. “I look forward to working with Oxford’s talented global team to further build our presence in Asia Pacific.”

Fiascaris’s appointment was revealed on the same day that Oxford’s Quebec-based rivals at Ivanhoe Cambridge announced a reorganisation of their global operations, including the promotion to APAC co-head of George Agethen, who will share responsibilities for the group’s operations in the region with Paris-based Karim Habra, who also heads Ivanhoe’s European business.

Matheson’s Star Turn

Matheson joined Starwood Capital this month after eight years at Oxford, where he was a member of the executive committee and the investment committee. At Starwood, he will be responsible for sourcing and executing real estate acquisition opportunities across Europe.

The London-based Matheson completed transactions totalling over $20 billion during his time at Oxford, leading the group into new sectors in Europe and Asia like build-to-rent residential and logistics.

Matheson’s tenure saw Oxford invest last year in Sydney-based Investa’s Indi, which aims to become the pre-eminent build-to-rent residential platform in Australia, as well as serve as a cornerstone investor in logistics giant ESR’s Hong Kong IPO in 2019.

Before joining Oxford, Matheson spent more than a decade in European investment banking, including as an executive director at Goldman Sachs and as a vice president at Lehman Brothers.