MIPIM 2009: Allianz to reveal head of French business

Allianz Real Estate, which has €10 billion to spend over the next five years, is close to filling a role in France as global chief executive of real estate Olivier Piani continues to organise the business.

Germany-based Allianz Real Estate is close to announcing the head of its French business as it continues to put into place the building blocks to invest €10 billion in real estate over the next five years.

The property division of the Allianz Alternative Asset Management could make an announcement as early as the end of the month, according to one well-placed source, with the new hire charged with driving investments forward in the country.

President and chief executive of Allianz Real Estate Olivier told the Wall Street Journal recently that it was reshaping its  activities across the world. Allianz is opening offices in New York and Singapore, and could open one in London later this year, the report said.

Piani also said Allianz was also starting to invest in real estate funds. “We'll do this to cover a geography or a type of asset that we don't have yet,” he said. Allianz currently allocates about €20 billion, or 4 percent of its assets, to real estate, the report said. Piani said the company wanted to increase that to 6 percent “and maybe more. That means increasing our assets to around €30 billion,” he said.