Investors

Former Sun Life Financial Canada president Robert Astley will succeed longtime director Gail Cook-Bennett as head of the C$128bn Canadian pension's in-house investment arm.

Richard Guay, interim president and chief executive of the Canadian pension manager, will officially assume the positions he stepped into last May in addition to his responsibilities as chief investment officer.

Robert Kelly is tasked with overseeing real estate investments for the private equity real estate firm’s Perseus Capital City Fund, as well as its latest $200m vehicle, Perseus Realty Partners II.

Investors should look beyond ‘volatile’ short-term concerns in Europe and focus on longer-term issues such as economic growth, liquidity and risk-adjusted performance, according to a report by UK real estate fund manager, Invista. Germany, it said, was one of the most attractive locations.

Dominic Petrucci, former chief operating officer of Cornerstone Real Estate Funds, has joined the firm as chief financial officer.

Institutional investors are ramping up their commitments to distressed debt funds, but which asset class they fit into becomes complex when those commitments end up in credit vehicles raised by traditional buyout firms, according to CalSTRS CIO Chris Ailman.

As the vast Brazilian real estate market becomes saturated with GPs both large and small, prime properties are being gobbled up at a frenzied pace. As with other BRIC markets, development is now the name of the game. By Eva Poon

Kim Ho-Shik, the ousted former president of South Korea's $230bn National Pension Service, has joined the advisory board of the Singapore-based real estate investment firm.

The growth story of the summer has been in Asia, with many firms opening new offices and making hires to manage the rapidly increasing amount of capital dedicated to the East. The type of structures and personnel they are choosing says much about their strategy going forward. By Dave Keating

Superannuation funds have become the most prominent investors in Australia based on record inflows of retirement savings—and the ‘supers’ are acquiring a taste for greater risk and overseas assets. By Robin Marriott