Universal-Investment has appointed Marcos J. Joos to head its newly-established real estate portfolio management division.

The 36-year old real estate specialist is also responsible for transaction management, commercial and technical asset management and for financing and liquidity management for the real estate business.

Joos joins from Commerz Real where he managed seven institutional real estate funds with an investment volume of some EUR 2.7 bn. Prior to this he worked for the consulting divisions of the auditors KPMG and Ernst & Young as project manager.

Universal-Investment has only recently started to be active in real estate. Earlier this year, it obtained a Master KAG license for institutional investors and is currently in negotiations with a number of institutional investors to secure new mandates.

A subsidiary of Frankfurt-based bank Universal-Investment, the company manages assets worth EUR 126 bn across different sectors.