Real estate and alternative manager DWS has appointed Matthias Naumann as chief investment officer (CIO) for real estate in Asia Pacific.
Naumann will relocate from the firm’s Frankfurt headquarters to Sydney and report to Lidia Tomova, chief executive of DWS Australia. His appointment is the firm’s first “on the ground” real estate CIO as it focuses more on the APAC region.
He will be responsible for identifying real estate investment opportunities across Asia-Pacific as well as exploring new markets for strategic growth.
Having joined in 2013 as the head of European real estate strategy, he was then promoted to CIO of the European real estate platform in 2019. He has also covered the APAC region in a caretaker role since 2021 and chairs the APAC real estate investment committee.
As part of its alternatives platform, the DWS real estate business has almost €76 billion ($124 billion) in assets under management across real estate, real estate debt and real estate securities.
Tomova said: “It’s a great privilege to have someone with Matthias’ experience join our Sydney headquarters, further strengthening the DWS Australia franchise. His extensive knowledge and proven ability as a real estate CIO will further enrich not only the wider APAC business, but also our established Australian real estate platform which spans an investment heritage of almost 30 years.”
Naumann commented: “Following extensive time spent in Asia-Pacific, the timing was right to relocate having developed a sound understanding of the region, it’s nuances and unique investment characteristics. Australia was the logical location as a strategic priority of DWS offering a dynamic full service real estate platform under George’s leadership.”
