Pacific Star makes foray into Middle East with appointment of President for its Qatar office

Dr Riesmeier, 53, brings with him over 20 years of experience in the real estate and infrastructure sectors. He was former Global Head of Real Estate at MEAG, the global asset management company of Munich Re Group. At the firm, he was responsible for the performance of real estate assets of the group worldwide.

At MEAG, Dr Riesmeier managed key functions of business development, and portfolio and fund management. His responsibilities also included managing groupexternal investors and transactions, development, and asset and property management. During his time at the firm, assets under management reached €14bn.

Dr Riesmeier previously also worked at Lahmeyer International, Frankfurt, where he was involved in two large infrastructure projects in Argentina and Sri Lanka, financed by the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank respectively.

Dr Riesmeier's key role as President, Pacific Star Qatar, will be to grow the business platform, and increase Pacific Star's funds raised from sovereign wealth funds, financial institutions and ultra-high-net-worth individuals. His exceptional credentials put him in a good position to promote Pacific Star's premium investment products to these investors.

Commenting on Dr Riesmeier's appointment, Alfred Lim, Chief Corporate Officer, Pacific Star Group, said:

"We are delighted to have him join the Group. With his excellent qualifications and vast experience in global real estate investments, he is ideally suited to lead our platform to establish a significant presence in Qatar and the Middle East."

On his new role, Dr Riesmeier said:

"I'm excited to be part of Pacific Star Group. With its stellar track record in advising global investors, I believe Pacific Star will make significant inroads and will become a real estate investment advisor of choice with sovereign, corporate and high-net-worth investors in the Gulf."

To date, the Group has over a dozen offices, subsidiaries and representative offices outside Singapore in key cities such as Kuala Lumpur, Bangkok, Hong Kong, Beijing, Shanghai, Seoul, Tokyo, Sydney, Munich and New York.

Pacific Star has advised and managed multi-billion dollar real estate transactions since its inception in 2001. The Group manages a suite of funds, namely, the €1.2bn Asia Real Estate Income Fund (AREIF), the $600m Baitak Asian Real Estate Fund (a joint venture between Pacific Star and Kuwait Finance House), the €500m HSH Asia Real Estate Fund (in partnership with HSH Real Estate AG, the wholly owned real estate subsidiary of HSH Nordbank), and the $650m Asian Real Estate Prime Development Fund which invests in prime development projects in key Asian cities.

The Group is also marketing the $400m PS Arrow Vietnam Fund which invests in Vietnam real estate, as well as the $500m Enterprise Fund, an opportunistic-type fund focused on investing in Asian real estate companies and platforms in different parts of capital structures such as mezzanine financing and convertible bonds.

In the last one year, Pacific Star has made several acquisitions worth over $1bn including Cross Tower in Shanghai and the landmark Singapore Power Building (renamed 111 Somerset) in Singapore.

Other notable investments facilitated by Pacific Star include the acquisition and divestment of a 50% interest in the Eureka Office Fund, Capital Square in Singapore, KL Pavilion in Kuala Lumpur, Gotenyama House in Tokyo, The Avatar Mall in Seoul, and Shui On Land in China which owns the renowned Xintiandi in Shanghai.