UK - Hermes Pensions Management has named Fiona Sweeney as its head of real estate investment management.

Carl Bennett becomes head of research and strategy in the real estate team and Chris Mathew becomes investment manager.

“Investment management is an important part of our future,” said Rupert Clarke, head of real estate said. “These promotions build on the existing strengths of the Hermes real estate team in this area.”

“These are exciting times for real estate,” Sweeney said. “As an asset class, real estate is in high demand and is likely to remain so for the remainder of this decade.”

“In addition, the prospects for the introduction of a REIT type investment structure for the UK real estate market is currently stronger than ever.”

Hermes, owned by the BT Pension Scheme, manages around 44 billion pounds in assets for more than 100 clients.