AEW Europe appoints head of debt funds in Paris

AEW Europe has hired Thibault Chauvin as managing director and head of debt funds in Paris. The firm plans to increase its debt investment volume next year and Thibault’s appointment, along with other key recent appointments, is part that expansion, the firm said in a statement.

Paris-based Thibault will report to Raphael Brault, head of funds and separate accounts.

AEW Europe launched its debt platform in 2012 and has since raised €323 million in capital for its Senior European Loan Fund. The fund has recently made investments in the UK and Europe and the investment period should be completed over the next few months.

“Thibault brings a wealth of experience of the European debt markets to the firm and will help us expand our debt business as investors’ interest in this sector continues to increase,” Raphael Brault, head of funds and separate accounts for AEW Europe, said in the statement.

Thibault previously worked at Colony Capital as a managing director responsible for real estate debt strategies and deal origination in Europe. Before that, he was the head of international real estate finance at Crédit Foncier. He has also worked at Morgan Stanley and Merrill Lynch in London and Paris.

AEW Europe’s other recent senior hires include Ewa Parys, asset management director for Central Europe based in Warsaw. The firm has also hired Arabella Edwards as a director in the funds and separate accounts group. Edwards will focus on large transactions and joint ventures.

The real estate investment manager has €18bn in assets under management.

AEW Capital Management was founded in 1981 and has its headquarters in Boston in the US. The US business has $27.8 billion in assets under management.