UBS Asset Management’s (UBS-AM) Real Estate & Private Markets (REPM) business has made three new hires in its infrastructure area, supporting the growth of the USD 4 billion platform to meet increasing investor demand.
REPM’s global infrastructure platform comprises direct equity and debt investments and is led by Tommaso Albanese, who is supported by a team of over 30 professionals located across five offices globally.
Two of the new hires have joined as Directors on REPM’s Infrastructure Equity team and will be based in London and Madrid, reporting to Bronte Somes, Head of Infrastructure Equity Europe. They will be responsible for activities supporting the origination, analysis and execution of investment opportunities across Europe and managing assets within the portfolio.
Thibault Contat Desfontaines joins with 11 years of industry experience, most recently at Nomura, where he was a Vice President on the EMEA M&A team, advising various infrastructure funds on acquisitions and disposals and providing strategic advisory services to clients. Thibault is based in London.
Borja de Luis de Blas joins with a decade’s relevant experience, having most recently spent five years based in Madrid working as an Investment Director at Globalvia, where he gained extensive experience in origination, evaluation and execution of acquisitions of infrastructure opportunities across OECD countries and was responsible for the disposal of non-core assets.
Further bolstering REPM’s infrastructure offering, the business has made its first dedicated Research & Strategy hire with the appointment of Declan O’Brien as a Senior Analyst, reporting to Bill Hughes, REPM’s Head of Research & Strategy. Declan will implement REPM’s successful research-based investment approach, which has a proven track record on the real estate side, providing quantitative and qualitative cross-regional analysis of infrastructure investment markets across Europe. A Chartered Accountant with 12 years of industry experience, Declan joins from Legal & General Investment Management where he fulfilled a similar role as the business’ sole infrastructure strategist over the past two years.
Tommaso Albanese, Head of Infrastructure at REPM, says: “These appointments enhance both the wealth of experience and the reach of our team as we continue to develop and grow REPM’s infrastructure platform. With a strong pipeline of infrastructure equity projects identified and planned upcoming launches for new debt and equity capability offerings, it’s the ideal time to deepen our resources. Declan’s appointment will also be key to supporting this growth, as he works with the wider team to place infrastructure in the context of a multi-asset landscape and to help clients best define and execute their global investment strategies”
