Tuesday, 6 October 2026
UNIQA Real Estate has appointed Mike Elsner as Head of Sales Real Estate DACH, giving him responsibility for institutional investor relationships across Germany, Austria and Switzerland.
The appointment follows UNIQA Real Estate’s decision in September 2026 to make its investment and asset management platform available to investors outside the UNIQA Group. Elsner will work on developing relationships with institutional capital, establishing separate-account mandates and expanding the company’s investment products.
The move represents a shift for UNIQA Real Estate from managing property investments primarily for its insurance parent towards competing for third-party institutional capital. Its planned structures include investment funds, individual mandates and club deals involving groups of investors.
The company’s first product aimed specifically at external institutions is the UQA Real Estate Fund, which targets core and core-plus office properties in Austria, Poland and the Czech Republic. UNIQA Real Estate is targeting a total fund size of EUR 600 million, giving its new DACH sales operation a clear initial fundraising mandate.
Elsner brings more than 20 years of experience in finance and real estate. He joins from HIH Invest, where he had worked in capital management since 2020 and most recently served as Director Capital Management and authorised signatory. Before that, he spent almost eight years at Deka Immobilien as Sales Director with responsibility for institutional clients.
The appointment also reflects UNIQA Real Estate’s intention to use its established presence in Austria and Central and Eastern Europe to attract capital from institutional investors in the German-speaking markets. Pension funds and other long-term investors are expected to be an important target group as the third-party business develops.
For UNIQA Real Estate, the next stage will be converting its existing property management experience and CEE investment network into external mandates. Elsner’s appointment provides a dedicated institutional distribution function as the company begins raising capital beyond the UNIQA Group.
