Swiss Life AM sets course for growth in Germany

Swiss Life Asset Managers has set the course for growth in Germany with the creation of a newly-founded company to oversee the entire real estate and securities business, it announced this month, along with a series of personnel changes in the group.

Under the leadership of Tina Störmer, CEO of Swiss Life Asset Managers in Germany, the new company will function as a holding entity for the companies belonging to Swiss Life Asset Managers in Germany and will have its headquarters in Frankfurt.

‘In recent months we have placed our strategic reorientation on a stable footing,’ Störmer said. ‘Now we are starting to implement our growth targets...to intensify cooperation with our German company entities and ensure a high degree of continuity in leadership, we are staffing our new executive board in Germany with experienced colleagues from our local companies.’

Störmer took over as CEO and country head of Swiss Life Asset Managers in Germany in January this year. She was previously head of strategic & special tasks at Swiss Life Asset Managers.

In March, Strabag Property and Facility Services, the German property management arm of listed Austrian construction group Strabag SE, took over over the property management business from Corpus Sireo, the German property arm of Swiss Life. Corpus Sireo currently has around 43,000 sqm of office space under development, as well as 2,500 residential units in Germany.

‘Considering the economic conditions and our local strength, Germany is our most important core market,’ said Stefan Mächler, CIO of Swiss Life Group. ‘We would like to actively shape the constant change arising from the challenging but also opportunity-laden market environment to the benefit of our customers and employees. With our management team in Germany and the market units there, we will be able to further expand our position in the German real estate sector, along with our securities activities.’

Annett Borsch, managing director of the project development business at Corpus Sireo, will head up Swiss Life Asset Managers' development business in Germany as head of real estate project development. As COO, Christine Bernhofer will take over the development and management of both regulated and unregulated fund products and vehicles for real estate and securities investments. Christian Schmid will become CFO, effective 1 September 2019. He comes to Swiss Life Asset Managers from insurer Munich Re. Hendrik Staiger, board member of BEOS for southern Germany, acquisitions and corporate solutions is the new head of real estate asset management.

Swiss Life Asset Managers had around €81bn of AUM in Europe, of which over €23bn in Germany, as of end-June 2019.