Internos poaches Roger Lees from Aviva

Internos Global Investors has appointed Roger Lees as chief financial officer.

Lees joins from Aviva Investors where he was finance director and chief operating officer at its global real estate investment business.

Prior to that, he was at Schroder Property Investment Management as chief operating officer. Previous appointments include roles at Lend Lease, Broadgate Properties and PWC.

In the newly-created role, Lees will report to Andrew Thornton, chief executive at Internos. Thornton and chairman, Jos Short, formed Internos in 2008. The pan-European investment manager has €3.6bn under management.

“Under the leadership of Short and Thornton, the business has evolved into a major European real estate investment manager, with enviable expertise across a range of sectors and a growing reputation,” said Lees. “I am looking forward to contributing to its future growth.”

Internos is making a push into ‘assets with beds’ and recently expanded into European student housing with a 27% stake in German firm DREF in February, alongside family office Somerston Capital.

It has also been disposing of assets in its German Retail Property Fund, one of seven closed-ended funds and mandates it took over managing when it acquired GPT Halverton in December 2009.

Thornton said: “Lees has a formidable track record as chief financial officer at some of the industry’s leading UK-based real estate fund managers. We look forward to benefiting from his considerable expertise as we continue to expand our European platform.”