Cohen & Steers has roped in Sean Cooney to become a senior director of its Emea wholesale distribution business.
Cooney joins from Gam Investments where he was client director for the UK wholesale distribution channel and responsible for relationships with wealth managers, DFMs, multi-managers, rating agencies and IFAs.
At Cohen & Steers he will support the firm’s growing presence in the UK and European wholesale markets.
Cooney is the latest senior sales hire for the real assets and alternative income manager, which has been beefing up its Emea distribution capabilities off the back of bumper asset growth.
Last September the firm poached David Conway from Jupiter to become the boss of its wholesale Emea business after taking in $3.4bn worth of net flows in Q2.
See also: Cohen & Steers hires ex-Jupiter salesman as wholesale boss on bumper assets growth
Cohen & Steers expects future flows from open-ended property fallout
For the whole of 2020 Cohen & Steers saw “record” organic growth of 14.9% and Conway said the firm expects to see more money coming in following the liquidity woes of open-ended property funds, which the Financial Conduct Authority is currently investigating.
On Wednesday Aviva Investors pulled the plug on its frozen UK Property fund, which suspended with all the major direct property funds at the height of the Covid crisis for material uncertainty reasons, over liquidity concerns upon re-opening.
“As the UK has witnessed consistent liquidity issues of daily-dealing direct property funds, we believe real estate securities offer a superior liquid alternative for investors seeking allocations to the European and UK property markets,” Conway said.
“We believe Sean’s experience working with the financial intermediaries in the UK will provide solutions to investors looking to diversify portfolios, generate alternative sources of income and position for potential global inflation.”
Before joining Gam in 2014 Cooney was a sales manager at Neptune Investment Management and also worked at Aviva Investors.
