Our approach
As one of Europe’s largest managers of real assets, with over 340 specialists across five locations, our platform has the scale to access the full depth and breadth of real asset markets. This enables us to deploy capital in an efficient and disciplined manner. Our diverse capabilities allow us to deliver the best outcomes for our clients. We do this through pooled or bespoke solutions, as well as giving clients the opportunity to co-invest with Aviva Group.
Connected thinking
Our more than 80 credit specialists have developed a deep understanding of market drivers. Their insights drive our conviction calls, identify relative value across the range of our real asset investments, and allow us to optimise portfolio construction, to build portfolios that aim to deliver the outcomes our clients require.
Responsibility built in
Environmental, social and governance (ESG) considerations are embedded throughout our investment process – from origination through to due diligence and approvals to development, management and enhanced reporting. Our Global Responsible Investment team provides support and advice on all aspects of ESG.
Webcast: Real Assets & ESG
Watch our webinar in which our panel of experts discuss how real asset investments can play a pivotal role in helping us achieve the UK and EU 2050 net-zero emissions targets, while aiming to deliver a positive contribution to investment portfolios.
Strategies in focus
Real Assets Study
Find out how European institutional investor appetite for real assets is developing against an uncertain political and economic outlook, supply constraints, and the increasing importance of ESG.
Key risks
Illiquidity risk
Where funds are invested in real estate / infrastructure and illiquid private assets, you may not be able to switch or cash in your investment when you want because real estate in the fund may not always be readily saleable. If this is the case we may defer your request to switch or cash in your units.
Real assets team
Mark Versey
Chief Investment Officer, Real Assets
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Barry Fowler
Managing Director, Alternative Income
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Daniel McHugh
Managing Director, Real Estate Investments
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Darryl Murphy
Managing Director, Infrastructure
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Chris Urwin
Director of Research, Real Assets
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Melanie Collett
Head of UK Asset Management
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Mark Meiklejon
Head of Real Asset Investment Specialists
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Need more information?
For further information, please contact our investment sales team.
Real assets views
Education, entrepreneurship and biological age: An interview with Andrew Scott
6 Aug 2020
In part two of our interview with Professor Andrew Scott from London Business School, we look at how policy will shift to take account of people living for longer and how service providers will respond.
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Longevity, policy and technology: An interview with Andrew Scott
6 Aug 2020
Living longer brings enormous opportunities to reshape how we spend our time. But in the first of a two-part interview, Andrew Scott from London Business School explains how advances in longevity and technology have not been matched by innovation in social structures or our approach to financial planning.
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Reality bites: Retailing in a health crisis
5 Aug 2020
In the latest instalment of our editorial series, Link, experts from Aviva Investors’ credit, equities and real asset teams discuss the consequences of COVID-19 on the retail sector and their implications for investors.
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How to build back better, greener and faster: A 10-point plan for UK infrastructure
14 Jul 2020
Boris Johnson has called for an ‘infrastructure revolution’ to help lift the UK economy out of its coronavirus-induced malaise. Private capital could and should play a large role alongside the public purse in delivering on that ambition, as Darryl Murphy sets out in a blueprint for the industry.
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Real Estate: The Last Dance for gut feel investing
7 Jul 2020
Commercial property investors could learn a lot from the data-led revolution that has taken place in basketball in recent years, as Chris Urwin explains.
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Real assets and the quest for resilient income
6 Jul 2020
COVID-19 has made life harder for already yield-starved investors, and each asset class faces its own challenges. We draw on the latest thinking from our Real Assets House View and research team to highlight where reliable income sources can still be found in real asset markets.
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Tomorrow’s world: COVID-19 and the long-term future of commercial real estate
29 Jun 2020
Chris Urwin and Jonathan Bayfield look beyond the near-term disruption to real estate to assess the longer-term prospects for the retail, office and logistics sectors.
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What do rising US-China tensions mean for global markets?
24 Jun 2020
In the latest instalment of our editorial series, Link, Aviva Investors experts discuss the prospects for financial markets and the world economy in the face of escalating hostilities between the US and China.
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Defined Benefit pensions de-risking: A covenant and investment view
23 Jun 2020
In the midst of the COVID-19 shock, Felix Mantz from Lincoln Pensions and Joachim Sudre from Aviva Investors explore how defined benefit pension schemes should plan their journey towards an end game and adopt a more holistic approach to risk.
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Defaults, disruption and development: Real assets adjust to the new normal
22 Jun 2020
While lockdown measures gradually start to ease, it is still far from business as usual in the real assets sector. Mark Versey explains the impact for investors.
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Logistics: ‘Last mile’ or further to run?
19 Jun 2020
Following a decade of bumper demand and returns, many experts are questioning whether logistics real estate assets have reached their prime or whether they still have further to run. Vivienne Bolla argues the latter.
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COVID-19 and data infrastructure: Will demand translate into profit?
18 Jun 2020
During the initial outbreak of COVID-19, we published a report on the underlying long-term trends supporting data infrastructure. Since then, much about the world as we knew it has changed. Laurence Monnier assesses how many of the trends we identified remain intact and whether the surge in demand for data services and infrastructure will translate into investment opportunities.
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Cinderella science? Why portfolio construction holds the key to resilient investment outcomes
9 Jun 2020
It is one thing to have a good investment idea, but quite another to extract the maximum potential from that idea and combine it with others to create an optimal portfolio. This is where portfolio construction comes in.
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COVID 19: The trade-off between staying safe and getting back to work
15 May 2020
An economy in lockdown has significant effects for investors in real assets. In this data illustration, our real assets research team consider the benefit of businesses returning to their usual locations against the risks of doing so.
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COVID-19: Do past recessions offer lessons for real estate investors?
7 May 2020
Although history offers no magical answers, it can serve as a useful guide in times of extreme uncertainty. Vivienne Bolla and Souad Cherfouh dig into the archives to better understand the effects of recessions on real estate.
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COVID-19 and beyond: Three predictions for transport infrastructure
30 Apr 2020
Constant reminders that COVID-19 ‘does not discriminate’ seem in stark contrast to the social and economic consequences playing out in front of us. Some sectors are clearly being hit harder than others – perhaps none more so than transport. Laurence Monnier looks at the long-term implications for the industry and its supporting infrastructure.
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