Generali RE CEO resigns

Christian Delaire, who has been with the firm for two years, announced his resignation Thursday.

The chief executive of Generali Real Estate, the real estate investment arm of Italian insurance giant Generali, has resigned, according to a statement Thursday.

Christian Delaire, who has been with the firm for two years, left his post immediately.

Before joining Generali in 2014, Delaire was the chief executive of AEW Europe, according to Generali’s website.

The firm’s Board of Directors appointed the group investments chief operating officer Francesco Benvenuti as interim general manager. Generali Real Estate, one of the world’s largest insurers, has a total of €27 billion in real estate assets globally, primarily in continental Europe.

“On behalf of all our employees of Generali Real Estate, I would like to thank Christian for his contribution to the development of the company over the last two years,” Nikhil Srinivasan, Generali Real Estate’s chief investment officer said in the statement.

Recently, Generali has been making a significant push outside Europe in an effort to diversify its property holdings, first in Asia and now in the world’s largest real estate market, the US. The company currently holds approximately €500 million, or about 2 percent of its overall property portfolio, across six assets in the US. PERE reported earlier this month that the company is looking to enter two or three new US markets in the coming years.