Aberdeen Asset Management has made two senior appointments, naming Steven Nicholls as head of EMEA client portfolio managers and Andrew Allen as director of global property research.

Before joining Aberdeen Nicholls was at PIMCO in London, where he led a team for UK institutional client servicing and worked with distribution teams to facilitate new business strategies, the firm said in a statement.

In his new role Nicholls will have two main areas of responsibility. Firstly, he will be a client-facing portfolio manager in the UK product team, responsible for the external support and promotion of UK fixed income products, reporting to Paul Magura, head of UK fixed income. Secondly, as head of EMEA client portfolio managers, he will report to Charles McKenzie, deputy head of fixed income.

Meanwhile, Allen joins from Oriel Securities, where he was a partner and real estate equities analyst. Prior to this, he was head of research and strategy at Cordea Savills. In his new role, which starts 3 May, Allen will be responsible for property research and will lead a team of seven researchers located around the world. He reports to Russell Chaplin, chief investment officer, property.

Aberdeen Asset Management’s assets under management stood at £183.3 billion (around $299 billion), on 31 December 2010.