Rene Buehlmann will lead abrdn's investment business on his own as sole CEO, with co-CEO Chris Demetriou stepping down, a spokesman confirmed.
The new structure was made effective on Thursday.
Mr. Buehlmann was previously co-CEO of the business unit. Under the co-CEO structure for investments, Mr. Buehlmann was CEO APAC, while Mr. Demetriou was CEO for the U.K., EMEA and the Americas. Under the new structure, Mr. Buehlmann takes on the CEO role across all four regions.
The investments business of abrdn had £376bn ($453.4 billion) in assets under management as of Dec. 31.
Mr. Demetriou will "remain with the firm through a period of transition to ensure continuity," the spokesman said. His departure date is not yet confirmed.
He added that Mr. Buehlmann will be supported by new CIO Peter Branner who joined from APG Asset Management earlier this month, and Chief Client Officer, Xavier Meyer, who will oversee strategy in the U.K.and EMEA region, as the firm focuses on accelerating growth across the business globally.
Mr. Buehlmann will continue to lead the APAC business and split his time across abrdn's Asia offices.
He joined the firm in 2021 as APAC chief in Singapore and was previously group managing director and head of APAC for UBS Asset Management.
Also Thursday, abrdn named Anne Breen as head of real estate, reporting to Mr. Branner.
Ms. Breen takes on some responsibilities from Neil Slater, who was global head of real assets. Mr. Slater was named CEO of real estate investment firm Redevco, effective Oct. 1, a spokesman confirmed. He replaces Andrew Vaughan in the role.
An abrdn spokeswoman said the firm is moving toward a split approach to real estate and infrastructure assets.
Ms. Breen will report to Peter Branner, the firm's new CIO. She was deputy head of real assets. Details of her replacement are not yet known. Dominic Helmsley, head of core infrastructure, and Gershon Cohen, global head of infrastructure funds, remain in their roles, she added.
Abrdn has about £50 billion in real assets under management.
