After building up Allianz Real Estate鈥檚 business in Asia-Pacific from scratch to US$10bn (鈧�9.1bn) in six years, Rushabh Desai is to leave the institutional investor by the end of June.
Desai, head of Asia-Pacific, told 91传媒在线 he had held discussions with CEO Francois Trausch over the past several months on his planned departure.
鈥淭he business is entering into steady-state management phase,鈥� he said. 鈥淎llianz Real Estate has a very capable team of about 40 people in APAC, across Singapore, Shanghai and Tokyo.鈥�
Desai said he had fulfilled the three objectives he had set out when he established the Asia-Pacific business in Singapore in 2017.
鈥淲e wanted to build up a sizeable portfolio for Allianz, expand into third-party capital management and establish a strong team and business infrastructure. We now have US$2bn of third-party capital commitments.鈥�
Desai had brought the likes of Korea鈥檚 National Pension Scheme and Canada鈥檚 Ivanhoe Cambridge into ventures with Allianz in recent years.
鈥淣ow is a good time for me to leave and build a business for another institution,鈥� he said. 鈥淚 thoroughly enjoyed growing this business and want to continue to bring my entrepreneurial thinking to another organisation.鈥�
Asked what his next step might be, Desai said he had 鈥渕ultiple options鈥� on the table and would continue to evaluate what would be 鈥渢he best fit鈥� for him.
鈥淚 will continue to be based in Asia and work in real estate, and be part of an institution 鈥� either in the role of a general partner or a limited partner,鈥� he said.
鈥淟ooking ahead, I am exploring various exciting options to be part of an institution where I can utilise my track record and experience to grow a real estate investment business.鈥�
Allianz Real Estate will explore both internal and external candidates in the search for a replacement.
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