Thijs Hupkes Joins Aviva Investors in APAC, Middle East Role

Global asset manager Aviva Investors is ramping up its real estate offering by naming Thijs Hupkes to a newly created role serving clients across Asia Pacific and the Middle East.

Based in Singapore, the property investment executive will be responsible for building client relationships as Director of Real Estate Client Solutions for Asia Pacific and the Middle East, Aviva Investors has announced.

Hupkes has nearly a decade of experience in real estate investment management in the Netherlands and Singapore. Most recently, the CFA charterholder worked for over eight years at the Amsterdam and Singapore offices of CBRE Global Investors, the Los Angeles-based global investment firm, which brought him to Singapore last August.

Aviva Investors Boosts Asia, Middle East Coverage

“Our global real estate platform aims to deliver specific outcomes to investors across the risk-return spectrum, and we [are] encouraged by the response from investors in APACME,” said Bart Coenraads, Head of Global Indirect Real Estate in a statement, referring to Asia Pacific and the Middle East in a single handy acronym. “Thijs has a strong track record and experience in real estate investment, which will be beneficial as we continue to build our presence in the region.”

London-based Aviva Investors, the global asset management arm of leading British insurer Aviva PLC, had $425 billion in assets under management across a range of funds as of year-end 2016. The company’s property division, Aviva Investors Global Real Estate, manages $41 billion of assets worldwide as of last December.

Building a Singapore-Based Team

Hupkes comes on board as Aviva Investors builds up its Singapore-based regional team across a variety of sectors. Last year, Scot Callander was shifted from the company’s Doha, Qatar office, where he served as managing director of global client solutions, to the office in Raffles Quay to take on the role of head of client solutions for Asia Pacific and the Middle East.

“Singapore is well-established as the regional hub for our APAC business, currently housing our expanding Asian Fixed Income and Real Estate capabilities,” commented Callander in the statement. “We are strengthening our teams across fixed income, wholesale distribution and real estate, and Thijs’ arrival is very much part of that process.”