Invesco Global Real Estate (Listed) Team Updates

November 21, 2024

Plan sponsors may wish to consider whether this investment news has any implications for the investment options available within their plans. Sun Life Assurance Company of Canada purchases units of the fund listed below. It is established as a segregated fund under the Insurance Companies Act (Canada).

Invesco has announced multiple changes to the team that manages the Invesco Global Real Estate (Listed) Segregated Fund (the “Fund”).

In late summer of 2024, Invesco has announced Darin Turner, Chief Investment Officer (CIO) of Invesco Listed Real Assets and one of the senior portfolio managers of the Fund, had left the firm. As CIO, Turner oversaw the Invesco Global Listed Real Estate strategy, although he didn’t have primary responsibility for any coverage of portfolio holdings. Turner had 18 years of experience at Invesco and had taken on the CIO role following Joe Rodriguez’s retirement in 2021.

Ping-Ying Wang, Senior Portfolio Manager (PM), has stepped into the role of interim CIO for the Listed Real Assets team. Wang has also taken on the role of Lead PM for listed Global Real Estate strategies, including the Fund. With over two decades of real estate market experience, Wang has been with Invesco since 1998. Invesco is conducting a search for Turner’s replacement as CIO.

Invesco undertook a review of the Listed Real Assets team in early 2024 following an extended period of relative underperformance. Invesco identified come concerns in the areas of risk management and macro analysis. Wang will now over see these areas in addition to her coverage of the Asia-Pacific region.

Craig Leopold, a PM on Invesco’s US Dividend team with a primary focus on Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs), will serve as Lead PM for listed U.S. Real Estate strategies. With U.S. listed real estate representing over 60% of global listed real estate, Leopold will collaborate on a daily basis with Wang. Leopold joined Invesco in 2022 and has a 30-year career in real estate and infrastructure. Both Wang and Leopold will report directly to Peter Santoro, CIO of U.S. Core and Dividend Equities, who now oversee the Listed Real Assets team. Both Santoro and Leopold have worked together at prior employers Columbia Threadneedle Investments and Rockefeller & Company.

The Listed Real Estate team is located in Dallas, Texas, and consists of 14 investment professionals, including three senior PMs. With Turner’s departure, the remaining team of portfolio managers—Wang, Grant Jackson and James Cowen—will continue to manage the Fund. With Leopold taking on the lead PM role for U.S. Real Estate, Grant Jackson (Senior PM), will resume U.S. security research coverage from analysts on the team. Jackson has been involved with the Fund for over 20 years, covering both US and Canadian markets. Cowen will maintain his coverage of Europe, the Middle East, and Africa (EMEA). Wang will be the ultimate decision-maker for these areas.

Sun Life GRS Investment Solutions team’s view

The Sun Life GRS Investment Solutions team is closely following these changes in leadership of the Listed Real Assets team. Darin Turner’s departure follows other senior leadership departures in recent years:

  • In August 2022, Joe Rodriguez (co-CIO of Listed Real Assets), retired;
  • In December 2022, Mark Blackburn (Senior PM and Director of Risk Management) retired; and
  • In early 2023, Chip McKinley (PM), departed Invesco.

Invesco didn’t replace these positions. Invesco indicated that Santoro and Leopold could provide leadership and replicate their success turning around the performance of the Dividend Value franchise. The Listed Real Assets team will now become more integrated into the US Core and Dividend Equities division. There will be less focus on macro calls and more focus on bottom-up stock picking going forward. Risk management will utilize Invesco’s central risk model and the Listed Real Assets team will collaborate more closely with Invesco’s fundamental equity research and fixed income teams.

The recent turnover of key decision-makers is a concern. We have confidence in the experience of Wang, Leopold, and Santoro, who each bring over 25 years of investment experience to their new positions. Santoro’s lack of experience with real assets is also a concern, but Wang and Leopold will have the primary day-to-day focus on the listed real assets strategies. Invesco intends to appoint a new permanent CIO for the Listed Real Assets and the hire may be external. The new CIO would be expected to have their own impact upon the team, potentially leading to further change in the future.

The Sun Life GRS Investment Solutions team have placed Invesco Global Real Assets (Listed) on our Watch List under Additional Monitoring (least severe category). We will continue to monitor the situation closely and will provide an update when the new CIO is announced.

Do you have to take any action?

You and your members don’t have to take any action as a result of these changes.

Questions?

Please contact your Sun Life Group Retirement Services representative.