Chris Reilly Resigns as APAC Managing Director for Nuveen Real Estate

Chris Reilly has resigned as managing director for Asia Pacific at Nuveen Real Estate, according to a company spokesperson, after more than five years leading the regional team for the company formerly known as TH Real Estate.

Reilly has left the company to “spend more time with his family and pursue other interests and opportunities,” a Nuveen Real Estate spokesperson told Mingtiandi.

His departure comes eight months after TH Real Estate was rebranded as Nuveen Real Estate to reflect the firm’s status as the property investment arm of TIAA-controlled investment management giant Nuveen. The news of Reilly’s departure was first reported by industry journal PERE.

Duties Absorbed by Team

Nuveen Real Estate’s head of Australia, Nick Evans, has taken up interim leadership of the firm’s Asia Pacific platform following Reilly’s resignation, while regulatory responsibilities for Singapore are being turned over to the firm’s head of product and solutions for Asia Pacific, Carsten Kebbedies.

A Nuveen Real Estate spokesperson said that the company has a strong leadership team in place that would absorb Reilly’s broader duties.

Before the company’s rebrand in January, Reilly had served as TH Real Estate’s managing director of Asia Pacific, a position he took up in 2014.

For seventeen years prior to the creation of TH Real Estate from a joint venture between US-based TIAA and the UK’s Henderson Global Investors, the University of Manchester graduate had served as Henderson’s head of Asia property, working out of the company’s Singapore office.

Henderson Global Investors had held a 40 percent stake in TH Real Estate – then known as TIAA-Henderson – until TIAA-CREF bought Henderson’s stake in the joint venture for £80 million ($98 million) in 2015.

Rebrand a Change in Name Only as Nuveen Pushes into APAC

When TH Real Estate was rechristened as Nuveen Real Estate, the company emphasised that the change was only in name, not in function.

“Although its name has changed, its people and specialist expertise in global real estate remain in place,” a Nuveen spokeperson said in a statement last January, adding that, “With over 80 years of real estate investment experience and more than 500 employees located across 20 cities throughout the United States, Europe and Asia Pacific, the platform offers a global presence and extensive sector expertise.”

Just less than two years prior to the relabeling, Nuveen had established its Hong Kong office, naming former Invesco executive Louise Kavanagh as managing director for real estate in Asia.

Increasing Activity in Asia

With $130 billion in assets under management globally, Nuveen Real Estate has been growing its presence in Asia after making its maiden investment in the region.

The firm made its second acquisition under its Asia Pacific cities fund just three weeks ago, buying a newly developed logistics facility in Greater Seoul for an undisclosed amount.

In November 2018, the real estate investment manager – then known as TH Real Estate – launched a $2 billion open-end core property fund, with an initial co-investment by the manager’s parent company, Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association of America (TIAA).

The fourth in the firm’s “global resilient cities series”, the fund was seeded with a Sydney office project, acquired from local developer Built for A$180 million ($121 million). The 7,900 square metre (85,000 square foot) heritage project at 183-185 Clarence Street is under development.

According to a company statement, the fund targets 17 selected “future-proof” Asia Pacific cities, including Sydney, Tokyo, Brisbane, Singapore and Seoul.

In 2016, together with Gaw Capital and German insurance giant Allianz Group, TH Real Estate set up a joint venture fund targeting high-end outlet malls across China.