SINGAPORE – Savills Investment Management (Savills IM) has appointed Alex Jeffrey as its new chief executive officer, the real estate investment manager announced on Wednesday (April 24).
Mr Jeffrey will join the firm in late 2019, subject to regulatory approval, and will be based in Singapore. He will also become a member of the Savills Group executive board. Savills IM is the investment management arm of Savills plc, the London-listed global real estate services provider.
In a press statement on Wednesday, the company noted that it increased its assets under management (AUM) from £5.6 billion (S$9.84 billion) in 2015 to over £16 billion today, raising more than £2.4 billion of new capital from clients last year.
Among other things, Mr Jeffrey will be responsible for leading the next stage of Savills IM’s global growth.
He was previously head of Asia-Pacific for M&G Investments, and was in charge of the development and leadership of the company’s business across all investment sectors in the region.
Prior to that, he was based in London as chief executive of M&G Real Estate, where he led the significant growth of the firm from about £15 billion AUM in 2012, to over £30 billion in 2018, Savills IM said.
Mr Jeffrey has also been recognised for his efforts to promote diversity and inclusion, having led M&G Real Estate to become the first real estate business to achieve the National Equality Standard in 2017.
Separately, Savills IM noted that Kiran Patel will continue in his role as chief investment officer, and will become deputy CEO following Mr Jeffrey’s arrival. Meanwhile, Nick Cooper will continue in his role as chairman.
Mark Ridley, CEO at Savills PLC, said: “I am delighted to welcome Alex as CEO of Savills IM. His experience will be instrumental in leading a strong management team to deliver our aspirations for the business over the coming years.
“The fact he will be based in Singapore is a clear demonstration of the importance we attach to Savills’ future growth potential in the Asia Pacific region, linked to our strong UK and European platform.”
Mr Jeffrey holds both an MA (Hons) in Law from Cambridge University, and an MBA from Insead.