AXA IM Alts Taps Laurent Jacquemin as North America Head, Antoine Mesnage to Lead APAC

Two regional leaders at AXA IM Alts will need new name cards after the French fund manager appointed Laurent Jacquemin, the firm’s current head of Asia Pacific, to lead the North America business and promoted Australia head Antoine Mesnage to succeed Jacquemin as APAC boss.

Jacquemin, a 24-year veteran of AXA IM Alts, will take the place of retiring North America head Steve McCarthy, according to a Friday announcement by the real assets arm of AXA Investment Managers.

In APAC, Mesnage is to begin his new job on 1 July and will continue as head of Australia after having served in that role since October 2022, the firm said.

“These internal appointments demonstrate the deep pool of talent available across our organisation and our long-held conviction that the specialist knowledge we possess across our conviction geographies, sectors and strategies will continue to drive our differentiation and outperformance for clients,” said Timothe Rauly, global co-head of real estate at AXA IM Alts.

Big Apple Bound

Jacquemin will be based in New York and lead a 60-person team managing $22 billion in real estate assets across equity and debt investment strategies.

After starting his career at Ernst & Young, Jacquemin joined AXA IM Real Assets in 2001 as corporate finance manager in Paris and became the firm’s global head of corporate finance in 2010. After serving as European head of transactions from 2013 to 2017, he was appointed AXA IM Alts’ APAC head in 2018 and AXA IM’s Japan CEO in 2022.

“Laurent’s experience and track record driving the strategic expansion of our real estate operations across Europe, and most notably his recent achievements in extending and diversifying our operations in Japan and Asia Pacific, will be invaluable as we continue to expand our North American business, a market of significant strategic importance for AXA IM Alts,” Rauly said.

Mesnage relocated to Sydney almost three years ago after previously serving as the firm’s head of transactions for France. At that time he had led more than €11 billion (then $11.5 billion) worth of transactions on behalf of AXA IM Alts clients across all strategies and sectors.

“In Asia Pacific, our platform has gone from strength-to-strength, not only operationally, but also at a capital raising and client servicing level,” Rauly said. “Antoine is ideally placed to spearhead the next phase of our growth given his deep understanding of the region and real estate investment management expertise.”

Next Chapter Awaits

Rauly thanked McCarthy for his “pivotal role” in establishing and scaling the US business over the last 13 years.

“I would also like to congratulate him on a highly successful career at the forefront of real estate investment and to wish him all the best in his well-deserved retirement,” Rauly said.

A Dartmouth grad and Columbia MBA, McCarthy previously held senior positions at Buchanan Street Partners, WestWind Capital Partners and JLL in the US and at Tishman Speyer in Britain.