Aberdeen Asset Management Asia has hired Christian van Beek as a senior property investment specialist for its Singapore headquarters.

Van Beek joined the company from CBRE - Real Estate Finance Asia in Hong Kong and brings seven years of experience in property deals, mostly for institutional investors. In his new role at Aberdeen, he will be responsible for promoting the group's European direct property strategies in Asia, as well as developing an investor base in the region for the local division's indirect operations. His appointment comes at a time European property assets are becoming a hot topic among Asian investors.

"Historically, we have focused on European institutional clients and we now aim to promote ourselves more widely as the sector recovers and institutional interest in property as an asset class also grows," Corrine Cheok, head of distribution at Aberdeen Asia, said in a statement.

Aberdeen is one of the largest property managers in Europe, recording $36 billion under management in property as of 31 December 2010; its total assets were $287 billion. Its Asian indirect business has more than $1 billion under management via unlisted third-party funds and separate accounts.