US investment management, risk management and advisory firm BlackRock is developing its Asia Pacific real estate securities capability in the region following the launch of its global real estate securities investment platform last year.

Alastair Gillespie has been appointed as chief investment officer of Asia Pacific real estate securities with immediate effect. Based in Singapore, he will report to Mark Howard-Johnson, global head of real estate securities and Marc Desmidt, head of alpha strategies for Asia Pacific, the firm said in a statement released yesterday.

As a senior member of the investment team, Gillespie will work with BlackRock’s global real estate research and investment team to identify opportunities in the real estate industry. In addition, he will make use of the investment insights and trading expertise of the fundamental equity teams in Asia to invest in real estate securities. Gillespie has a mandate to build a leading team of Asian real estate security investors, the statement said.

“Investors have continued to add capital to REITs as they search for income in the current low-yield environment. As the fastest growing region in the world, Asia Pacific is a key driver in the growth of invested real estate,” said Howard-Johnson.

“Alastair’s appointment will further strengthen our ability to offer our institutional and retail clients a leading set of real estate solutions in Asia Pacific. His experience and expertise will be vital assets as we look to develop our actively managed public real estate securities platform and build out our capabilities in this key area in the region,” he added.

Gillespie was most recently co-global portfolio manager for Principal Global Investors, managing a variety of global and domestic Australian strategies, based in Singapore. Prior to that, he worked at UBS Asia as co-head of the Asian real estate securities division in Singapore. His previous positions were at UBS and ABN Amro in Australia. Gillespie is a board member of Asia Pacific Real Estate Association (APREA).

 BlackRock’s assets under management were $3.936 trillion on 31 March 2013. Headquartered in New York City, the firm has approximately 10,600 employees in 30 countries and a presence in key global markets, including North and South America, Europe, Asia, Australia and the Middle East and Africa.