Union Investment Real Estate hires Stobbe as COO

Union Investment Real Estate, the Hamburg-based real estate investor, has hired Jörn Stobbe as chief operating officer.

A trained lawyer, Stobbe has a more than two decades’ worth of experience in the industry. His responsibilities at Union Investment will include developing the firm’s real estate business and improving its operational and organisational structure, with a particular focus on implementing digital transformation within the company.

Stobbe joins from Rreef Management, Deutsche Bank’s asset management division, where he worked as a managing director for assets and transaction from September 2013. Prior to working for RREEF Management, Stobbe was a partner at law firm Clifford Chance for over 10 years. He was also appointed head of Germany at RICS in 2013, a position he held for three years until October.

The appointment of Stobbe, who will officially begin his role in February, completes the overhaul of the senior management team at the Hamburg-based real estate manager, which is led by chief executive officer Reinhard Kutscher, ahead of an anticipated real estate push next year.

“We are delighted that Jörn is joining us. As an experienced and respected expert, his extensive knowledge will greatly benefit our real estate strategies and processes,” said Jens Wilhelm, head of portfolio management and real estate at Union Investment.

In October, Union Investment awarded Deutsche Asset One, a real estate investment unit of Berlin-based firm Dupuis Investment and Asset Management, a mandate to create an open-ended fund to invest an initial €170 million in German residential.

While several weeks earlier, the firm made its first US urban retail foray through the purchase of a minority stake in four retail buildings in a joint venture with TH Real Estate, which will hold a majority stake.

Union Investment manages five German open-ended real estate funds. At present, according the firm’s website, it currently has assets under management of €29.3 billion.