New York-based property equities fund manager Cohen & Steers has announced the appointment of Todd Voigt as a senior vice-president and portfolio manager who will lead the creation of

New York-based property equities fund manager Cohen & Steers has announced the appointment of Todd Voigt as a senior vice-president and portfolio manager who will lead the creation of hedged real estate securities portfolios, including the firm's long/short global real estate securities strategy.

Voigt was previously with Cliffwood Partners, a real estate investment management firm in Los Angeles, where he was portfolio manager for its absolute return real estate securities hedge fund and co-manager overseeing the short strategy for its 120/20 real estate securities hedge fund.

'We are seeing increased demand from our clients and real estate securities investors for hedged real estate strategies that can consistently generate superior risk-adjusted returns,' says Martin Cohen, co-chairman and co-chief executive of the firm with Robert Steers.

'A long/short portfolio management capability will broaden our initiatives in the alternative investment area, and will allow us to capitalise on diverse and increasing investment opportunities in the global real estate securities markets.'

Adds Steers: 'Todd has a strong track record in managing hedged real estate securities portfolios. This initiative will complement our strong line-up of regional and global real estate securities investment strategies.'

Cohen & Steers is a manager of high-income equity portfolios specialising in US real estate investment trusts, international real estate securities, preferred securities, utilities and listed infrastructure securities and large cap value stocks.

Headquartered in New York with offices in Brussels, Hong Kong, London and Seattle, the firm serves individual and institutional investors through a range of open-ended and closed-ended mutual funds and institutional separate accounts, and has some USD30bn in assets under management.