TH Real Estate Promotes Michael Neal to CIO for Europe and APAC

TH Real Estate has promoted its Head of UK Investment, Michael Neal, to Chief Investment Officer for Europe and Asia Pacific. In the new role, the 10-year veteran of the global investment management giant is tasked with overseeing the delivery of the firm’s investment strategy across the two regions.

Neal’s tenure at the London-based firm has included stints as fund manager for TH’s UK Retail Warehouse Fund and fund director for various UK and European balanced vehicles. TH Real Estate – an affiliate of Nuveen, the investment management arm of US financial giant TIAA – focuses exclusively on property, with about $109 billion in global assets under management.

“Our business has experienced tremendous growth over the past few years, placing us in the top four global real estate investment managers,” commented Mike Sales, Head of TH Real Estate in a statement. “It is essential that we structure our business in a way that can most efficiently provide for the future needs of our clients.”

TH Raises Its Profile in Asia

Neal has 25 years of real estate industry experience, including working for Aberdeen Property Investors where he was fund manager for two retail-focused vehicles. Before that, he served as an associate director at British developer Hammerson handling retail development, investment and asset management.

The appointment comes as TH ramps up its exposure to real estate in Asia Pacific, where it has partnered with German insurance giant Allianz Group and Hong Kong’s Gaw Capital on a planned $2 billion fund targetting high-end outlet malls across China. TH has $2.4 billion of assets under management in the region, including the outlet mall vehicle which raised $550 million in its first close last November.

TH acts as investment advisor for Silk Road Holdings, which has opened six Florentia Village properties in mainland China and Hong Kong. The most recent addition to the designer outlet mall chain had its grand opening in the southwestern city of Chengdu last December.

Investment Manager Announces Europe Sector Heads

Separately, TH has also promoted Ray Adderley to Global Head of Performance and Investment Process. Adderley has spent 19 years at the firm, leading investment process and performance reporting in Europe and Asia Pacific. TH has also appointed new Heads of European Offices, European Retail, and European Logistics and Industrial to bring those core sectors into sharper focus, alongside the existing Head of European Debt.

“We need a more seamlessly connected global strategy that provides the right platform to accommodate the growth and solutions now embedded in our product offering,” Sales noted. “We need to operate our European Investment platform in a way that can most efficiently provide for the future needs of clients in a way that enables us to fully leverage the benefits of our scale, both commercially and operationally.”