Ben Sanderson has been appointed managing director of real estate at Aviva investors.
Sanderson will be responsible for the firm’s direct real estate business. He will report to Daniel McHugh, chief investment officer of real assets, and he will join the real assets senior leadership team.
He joins the business after 13 years at Federated Hermes, where he most recently held the role of executive director for fund management, responsible for global real estate, UK residential and real estate debt investment programmes.
He also oversaw ESG strategy at the firm.
Prior to Federated Hermes, Sanderson was at M&G Real Estate for almost six years, where he held the positions of fund manager for its global real estate securities fund and head of global strategy and view formation for private real estate investments.
He is the current chair of the UK Investment Property Forum.
Aviva Investors has also announced that James Stevens, who has led the real estate business on an interim basis since February 2021, will take up the new role of head of real estate investment in January.
He will report to Sanderson and will be responsible for delivering strong performance for clients through the origination of investment opportunities and developments.
Stevens will also lead joint venture and co-investment programmes for the firm.
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