Â鶹ӳ»­

Nick van Ommen, former CEO of the European Public Real Estate Association (EPRA), has joined the Board of Directors of Swiss real estate investment manager 4IP. Van Ommen will support 4IP's management in strategic initiatives and in various product development projects, the company said in a press release.

Ulrich Kaluscha, Managing Director of 4IP, said : 'We are very pleased that Nick has agreed to join our Board of Directors. He knows the key people at 4IP for a long time and supports 4IP's business case. We are looking forward to capitalising on his comprehensive knowhow of the real estate markets.'

4IP is very positive on the mid- to long-term development of real estate stocks (predominantly REITstructures) on a global basis. On April 1, a global real estate equities fund was launched with seed money from parent company Sal. Oppenheim. The fund will be opened to investors later this year. Claudia Reich Floyd, who joined 4IP 12 months ago from Citigroup, acts as fund manager.

'We have seen a dramatic decline in market values in the last 12 months but we think for a long-term real estate investor it is now time again to look at real estate,' Reich Floyd said. ' We are doing this on a daily basis and we created a portfolio of roughly 80 stocks with a rather defensive approach. We strongly believe that this will pay off over the next 12 to 18 months.'

4IP Management was established as the real estate investment management company of Sal. Oppenheim with branches in Zürich, Luxembourg and Hongkong. 4IP (For Indirect Properties) advises institutional investors and high net worth individuals on their global approach towards indirect real estate investments and manages various fund products. The focus is on both unlisted real estate funds and listed real estate companies in Europe, Asia and the US.