Joseph Vullo was named head of U.K. real estate and James Rigg was named CIO, U.K. real estate at Columbia Threadneedle Investments, part of a planned transition of the unit's leadership team.
Mr. Vullo will replace John Willcock, who is retiring. Chris Morrogh, director and fund manager, will also retire over the coming six months.
Mr. Vullo was head of asset management, overseeing developments, tenant relations and other responsibilities related to properties, a spokeswoman said.
Mr. Rigg's role is new. He will retain a number of his previous responsibilities as a senior fund director in the U.K. real estate team, the spokeswoman said.
Messrs. Vullo and Rigg will report to Nick Ring, CEO for Europe, Middle East and Africa.
"I am pleased to announce this transition which is the result of our long-term succession planning and reflects the depth of leadership talent within our U.K. real estate business," Mr. Ring said in a news release.
The money manager also promoted James Coke and Robin Jones to the newly created role of co-heads of institutional, U.K. real estate. The new roles follow a review of the firm's approach to institutional and retail, "to further embed a strong focus and specialization on the needs of our clients in these two channels," the spokeswoman added.
Messrs. Coke and Jones were fund managers and will both become lead managers on the firm's institutional portfolios. "They will be supported by another investment manager and the asset management team. As members of the team step up, we will be recruiting to add new talent," the spokeswoman said.
The U.K. real estate team runs more than £7.4 billion ($9.6 billion) in commercial real estate assets.
