PGIM Investments has opened an office in Milan, Italy, a key intermediary market, and hired Alessandro Aspesi into the newly created role of head of Italy, effective 1 February 2022. 

The Milan office will start its operation once the necessary authorisation has been obtained from the Italian supervisory authorities, PGIM said in a statement on 9 March.   

PGIM Investments is the fund distribution arm of PGIM, the $1.5bn global investment management business of US based Prudential Financial.

Aspesi reports to Stuart Parker, president and CEO of PGIM Investments. 

As head of Italy, Aspesi is tasked with building a team and developing a long-term strategy for growth and client development in the region. 

In particular, he will develop PGIM Investments' relationships with the intermediary and wholesale channels - including professional clients such as private banks, banking networks, certain family offices, fund of funds, wealth managers and other intermediaries. 

Parker said: "Building our global client platform with exceptional local leadership is a top priority for PGIM Investments and in the current competitive environment, we are delighted with the recent success of our European business. 

"We have previously utilised the distribution capabilities of a local partner in Italy. As our European footprint has evolved and strengthened, we are now in a position to enter the market directly using PGIM's European distribution efforts to continue to strengthen our existing partnerships." 

PGIM Investments' UCITS platform has grown to $9.3bn as of 2022, from $5bn of assets under management at the start of 2020.

"PGIM is increasingly becoming known as a home of skilled active management among European intermediaries, and we are seeing growing demand for our range of specialist fixed income, equity and real estate propositions," said Parker. "We are confident that our existing suite of products will resonate in the Italian market where investors continue to search for exposure to income, thematic equity, multi-asset and ESG."

The head of Italy will be an integral part of the Financial Intermediary Group and PGIM's global expansion, the company further said. The Financial Intermediary Group, headed by Stuart Parker, now includes 18 sales professionals located in London, Germany, Netherlands, Switzerland, Italy, Hong Kong, Singapore, and the US. 

Aspesi joins PGIM Investments after more than a decade at Columbia Threadneedle Investments as Country Head for Italy leading a team of nine people. 

He previously worked in relationship management and distribution roles at UBS Global Asset Management, Invesco Asset Management and BNP Paribas Asset Management.

PGIM Investments joins PGIM Real Estate and PGIM Private Capital in Italy, that are already operating in the region with dedicated on-the-ground presence.

Alessandro Aspesi added: "This is a unique opportunity to build a business in Italy on behalf of a top 10 global asset manager with myriad of top performing investment strategies across a wide range of asset classes. I look forward to contributing to the growth of PGIM, which is witnessing exciting momentum in the region."