Hines, the Houston-based international real estate firm with $124.3B in assets under management around the globe, announced the corporate structure for the firm’s new global investment management platform.

It will be co-led by Global Chief Investment Officer David Steinbach and CEO of Capital Markets Chris Hughes, according to a news release from Hines. The team will be split into three new geographic regions, each with its own chief investment officer overseeing investment strategies. These new CIOs — Alfonso Munk in the Americas, Alex Knapp in Europe and Lee Timmins in Asia — will direct all institutional and retail investment vehicles in their regions. Each will join the firm’s Investment Committee with the goal of making it a more global decision-making body. As stakeholders, the CIO roles will be board-level positions with seats on the firm’s Executive Committee.

Hines said the aim of the new corporate structure is to encourage more large investors to work directly with the firm in a variety of ways. The investment vehicle, one of 57 created by Hines since 1991, will look to provide investors with local partners who can focus on equity capital allocation and value creation advantages at the property level.

“Our vertically integrated real estate service model has been honed and time-tested for the past six decades, and we are known as passionate, multi-sector property experts,” Hines President and CEO Jeffrey Hines said in the release. “Our Investment Management business, which began in ‘91, has grown steadily, as our business has grown, and now we are in the position to achieve more-meaningful scale for the largest and most-savvy investor partners as they consolidate their universe of managers. We are raising the bar on ourselves in terms of how we service investors.”

Munk, who joins the firm from PGIM Real Estate, brings more than 20 years' experience to Hines. Hines veteran Knapp has been promoted to his new role in the firm’s London headquarters. Timmins has led the firm’s Eurasia Region from Moscow since 2014, and will put his 30 years of experience to work expanding the firm’s real estate footprint and investor outreach.

All three new leaders will have plenty of tools at their disposal. Hines Proprietary Research Group, a new Investment Risk team and a newly created Global Investment Strategy team will help shape investing strategy and provide analytics support to the CIOs, Hines said in the release.