Chief executive officer of Allianz Real Estate of America James Stolpestad has left the firm after more than three and a half years on the job. The New York-based property arm of the German insurance giant announced Stolpestad’s departure in a release yesterday saying he was “leaving Allianz in mutual consent to seek new challenges outside the company.” Stolpestad’s last day was Friday, December 6.
In April 2010, PERE reported that Stolpestad had joined the newly launched real estate platform in order to grow Allianz’s investment focus on core and core-plus office, retail and multifamily properties in the US. At the time of Stolpestad’s hire, Allianz Real Estate chief executive officer Olivier Piani said in a company statement that the appointment was a step forward in developing the firm’s North American footprint, and that Allianz expected the US to become an increasingly important market for the company as economic fundamentals in the region improve.
When Stolpestad started at the firm, Allianz Real Estate managed approximately €17 billion of real estate assets worldwide, but aimed to increase its allocation to €30 billion. Currently, Allianz Real Estate has approximately €22 billion equity investments under management plus about €6 billion in debt assets worldwide. Under Stolpestad’s leadership, the firm brought its total equity investments in the US to approximately €1.5 billion, along with a debt business of approximately €5 billion.
Eric Bergwall, current head of portfolio management of Allianz Real Estate of America, will act as interim CEO until Allianz fills Stolpestad’s position. Other executives on the American real estate team include senior director of acquisitions Gary Phillips, senior director of commercial mortgages in the Western US Paul Wolters and director of commercial mortgages in the Eastern US Michael Krawiec.
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