The latest moves and appointments in the UK, rest of Europe, the Middle East and other select international locations.

Avignon Capital, the European real estate consultancy which oversaw €1.4 billion in assets as at 30 January, has appointed Dr Nils Kok as senior impact advisor. He is responsible for leading the sustainability team. 

Dr Kok is a professor of real estate finance at Maastricht University in the Netherlands. He was also founder and chief executive of GRESB, a global ESG rating company for real estate and infrastructure investments.

The business has built an ESG taskforce which will roll out a “Brown 2 Green” strategy across the portfolio, concentrating on transforming under-managed, under-invested and outdated buildings into those with exemplary ESG credentials. The roll out will begin in Germany before moving into other areas of operation including the Netherlands, the UK, Germany, Spain and Portugal.

Lakemore Partners
Lakemore Partners, the private credit investment firm, has named Arno van den Heiligenberg as managing director and head of business development for Europe.

The role is a new one for the business, it said this week. The appointment follows Lakemore’s establishment of its US presence in Phoenix, Arizona last year.

Van den Heiligenberg most recently served as the global co-head of investment fund sales at UBS Wealth Management. Prior to this, he worked in various capacities at ING Investment Management, JP Morgan, Merrill Lynch, and Citigroup.

Candriam
Candriam, the investment firm, has appointed Jörg Allenspach as global head of private assets distribution, adding to his role as head of Candriam Switzerland.

The role is a new one for the business, which is an affiliate of the New York Life Investments Company.

In December 2020, Candriam said it was partnering wth European private debt specialist Kartesia, which complements its acquisition of Rothschild & Co, Europe’s alternative multi-management unit in July 2020 and a stake in real estate investment manager Tristan Capital Partners in 2018.

Candriam also collaborates closely with its affiliated New York Life Investments boutiques to introduce their US-focused real estate, private equity and private debt funds to institutional investors across its markets. Founded in 1996, Candriam oversees about €150 billion of assets, operating from offices in Luxembourg, Brussels, Paris and London.

Allspring
Allspring Global Investments, a firm overseeing $575 billion of client money, has appointed Henrietta Pacquement and Janet Rilling to senior roles in its fixed income arm.

Pacquement, with 20 years of investment experience, will lead Allspring’s newly-formed global fixed income team based in London. This brings together Allspring’s London-based teams under her leadership.

Rilling, with 26 years of investment experience, will lead Allspring’s newly-renamed Plus Fixed Income team, based in Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin.

Allspring Global InvestmentsTM is the trade name for the asset management firms of Allspring Global Investments Holdings, a holding company indirectly owned by certain private funds of GTCR LLC and Reverence Capital Partners, LP.