JPMorgan expands client services team in bid for global investors

The firm hired London- and Tokyo-based executive directors, one from the firm’s private banking platform and the other from UBS, to focus on investors with global real estate ambitions.

JPMorgan Asset Management is looking to tap more global investors’ real estate buckets through the appointment of a pair of executive directors to work with institutional investors, the firm said on Monday.

Marie-Claire Bolton

For one of the newly-created roles, the New York-based firm brought over Marie-Claire Bolton from its private banking platform, where she was a senior investment advisor for the UK investment team and led business development and client relationships. Bolton has spent seven years at JPMorgan and is based in London, reporting to Pete Reilly, head of Europe real estate.

The other new director, Masami Takizawa, joins the firm from UBS Asset Management, where she was co-head of real estate and private markets in

Masami Takizawa

Japan. UBS could not be reached for comment. Takizawa is based in Tokyo and reports to Ben Aiken, head of portfolio management for Asia-Pac

Both executive directors are tasked with advising clients and forging relationships with institutional investors. Bolton will work with European and Middle Eastern institutions, while Takizawa will work with Japanese institutions. Their clients will include corporate pension plans, insurance companies, sovereign wealth funds and government-affiliated institutions, a JPMorgan spokeswoman told PERE.

“As institutional investors allocate significantly more of their portfolios to real estate, we are observing a change in investor preferences,” Anton Pil, the firm’s managing partner of its global alternatives platform, said in a statement announcing the appointments. “Where domestic-heavy real estate allocations once prevailed, now we are seeing more demand for truly diversified, global real estate portfolios. Marie-Claire and Masami’s extensive investment experience and deep understanding of client needs, goals and motivations will help these investors access the benefits of global real estate.”

Asia-Pacific institutional investors have the most interest in investing outside of their home region, reflected by 95 percent of the groups surveyed by placement agent Hodes Weill. About 81 percent of Europe, Middle East and Africa-domiciled institutions felt similarly, while 66 percent of Americas-based institutions look to invest internationally, according to the 2017 Institutional Real Estate Allocations Monitor.

JP Morgan Global Alternatives managed $125 billion as of September 30, with $82 billion in real estate assets, according to the Monday announcement.