UK-based Ignis Asset Management has launched a new business unit focusing on real estate – which is already managing around £2.6 billion ($4.2 billion) in assets – and has hired a trio of people from other firms to bolster it.

The new entity, known as Ignis Real Estate, consolidates the firm’s existing property funds into a dedicated business; it will be run by managing director Gary Hutcheson, reporting to Chris Samuel, chief executive of Ignis AM.

Appointments made so far include Alan Gardner as head of research, who joined from Jones Lang LaSalle where he was associate director and head of forecasting services, and Daniel Baynes and Chris Brydie as real estate asset managers. Baynes and Brydie will manage the assets in the UK Commercial Property Trust and Ignis UK Property Fund respectively, dealing with issues such as leases, tenancy arrangements and relationships.

Steven Beveridge and Robert Boag, meanwhile, who have worked at Ignis for a number of years, have been appointed to the new roles of chief operating officer and senior investment director respectively.

In total, the enlarged real estate team will number around 30, with the firm expecting to make further hires in this area in due course.

“The formation of the business unit within Ignis Asset Management marks another milestone in the transformation of real estate as an asset class within the wider Ignis business. Most importantly, the new business unit provides the real estate team with a degree of ownership of and responsibility for the growth of the real estate business,” said Hutcheson.