DWS Taps George Anastasiou to Lead Australia Team

DWS has hired George Anastasiou as head of real estate in Australia, bolstering the German fund manager’s local team in one of Asia Pacific’s more resilient property markets.

As a representative of DWS’s global real estate fund and separate accounts business, Anastasiou will focus on capital deployment and execution across the transaction life cycle, from acquisition to active asset management to disposition, the company said Monday in a release.

Anastasiou joins DWS, which has €80.5 billion ($82.3 billion) in real estate assets under management, after having served as head of Australia for MEC Global Partners Asia, a member of the Mitsubishi Estate group, where he helped set up and manage the real estate business and portfolio in the country.

“We are excited to appoint George to lead our platform in Australia and to deliver the next stage of growth,” said Christopher Kimm, head of real estate for Asia Pacific at DWS. “We are confident in his ability to drive the local strategy and execute our business plans.”

Family Office Work

Before joining MEC, Anastasiou was the investment manager at AMB Capital Partners, the family office of Australian mining heiress Angela Bennett, where he oversaw global real estate investments.

Anastasiou’s earlier experience includes stints on transaction teams at Savills and Centuria. He began his career at Deloitte as a chartered accountant.

Anastasiou holds a Bachelor of Business in finance and accounting from the University of Technology Sydney and a graduate diploma from the Institute of Chartered Accountants Australia.

“Australian real estate is displaying stable fundamentals despite the ongoing economic headwinds globally and rising interest rate environment,” Anastasiou said. “We will continue to seek opportunities in all sectors across Australian main capital cities with a particular interest in emerging office market locations and high-quality logistics assets in line with our strategic outlook.”

Dependable Land of Oz

Australia led all APAC real estate markets with $9.1 billion in investment volume in the third quarter, according to the latest Capital Trends report by MSCI Real Assets.

Notable third-quarter deals in Australia included UBS’s purchase of 73 Miller Street from ESR and Partners Group for $253 million and Baring Private Equity’s acquisition of the Hilton Sydney from Bright Ruby Resources for $365 million.

The country has remained the top target for cross-border investors, with more than $10 billion worth of acquisitions concluding in 2022, MSCI said.