JP Morgan Asset Management has carved out a role dedicated to the real estate market in Brazil, where it said values have dropped dramatically in local currency terms.

JP Morgan Asset Management has brought in Rossano Nonino as chief investment officer and head of real estate in Brazil – a new role at the firm. 

Based in São Paolo, Nonino will lead the firm's Brazil-based real estate investment team of eight. He will report to Kevin Faxon, head of real estate Americas, and locally to Vital Menezes, chief executive of global investment management in Latin America. 

“Brazil's political and economic structural upheaval has contributed to a 50 per cent decline in real estate values in local currency terms since the market peak in 2011,” said Joe Azelby, head of global real assets at JP Morgan Asset Management. “As the dominant economy in Latin America, we see opportunity in this market.”

Nonino founded Gávea Real Estate, the real estate investment arm of Gavea Investimentos, in 2012. There, he oversaw more than BRL 1 billion real estate investments in properties, development projects and real estate securities. He also previously worked at Brazilian Capital and Rio Bravo Investimentos Group.

JP Morgan Asset Management's global real assets group includes over 400 professionals in 19 offices throughout the Americas, Europe and Asia-Pacific.