Financial services firm Russell Investments (Russell) has appointed senior research analyst Samantha Steele as part its commitment to providing investors with increased exposure to alternative investments.
Steele will focus on real estate and private equity manager research in Asia, Australia and New Zealand, and work closely with Russell's Asia-Pacific Real Estate Investment director Martin Lamb.
"We believe that many unlisted global property markets may be approaching the bottom of their valuation cycles, so Samantha's experience will be of great value to clients in addressing these opportunities, and will help to further enhance our global property expertise," Lamb said.
Steele will work with Russell's newly appointed Alternatives Consulting director Nicole Connolly to also boost Russell's alternative investment consulting capabilities in Australia and New Zealand.
Russell recently announced plans to add additional new specialist resources to its talent pool across Asia and Australia in an effort to deepen capabilities in less traditional strategies such as active commodities, private investments and higher-alpha driven strategies.
"We believe these new capabilities will benefit our clients and increase the diversity of our strategies and solutions in the local market," Lamb said.
Prior to joining Russell, Steele was a senior fund manager for European asset manager KBC Asset Management, specialising in indirect real estate.
Prior to that Steele worked as a fund manager for Lothbury Property Trust, a UK diversified open-ended real estate trust, and for commercial real estate consultants CBRE Investors and Insignia Richard Ellis in asset management roles.
