Legal and General Property has appointed Chris Hunt to the newly-created role of senior asset manager to support its £800 million (around $1.2 billion) property unit trust.

Hunt joins LGP from Cushman & Wakefield, where he served as an associate partner within the business space investment team since 2005, having previously held roles in both office agency and investment.

Reporting to LGP fund manager Matt Jarvis, in his new role Hunt will be responsible for what LGP says is “the fastest growing fund in its peer group”, having secured £427 million of new investment over the past three years, representing growth of approximately 35 per cent per annum.

In other recent developments, earlier this month Legal and General Property and Legal and General Investment Management announced the launch of a hybrid property fund, intended to provide UK defined contribution pension schemes with a means of investing in property funds while managing volatility and liquidity.