Aviva

Mark Versey serves as CEO of Aviva Investors, leading the firm's global asset management activities, including real assets, credit, and multi-asset strategies. He reports to Amanda Blanc and oversees the allocation of both the general insurance account and third-party mandates from institutional clients.

Aviva operates an insurance-owned asset manager model. Aviva Investors functions as a wholly-owned subsidiary, running assets for the parent's sizable in-force insurance books while also pursuing external institutional mandates. This structure gives the direct investment team access to a large, permanent capital base for illiquid origination.

Under Amanda Blanc, the group divested eight non-core businesses between 2020 and 2022, including operations in Italy, Poland, Singapore, and France. These disposals generated billions in proceeds, significantly reducing capital-intensive liabilities and refocusing the group's geographic footprint on its most profitable UK, Irish, and Canadian divisions.

Aviva Investors operates a direct origination franchise, particularly in its Real Assets platform, targeting direct equity and debt investments. Its illiquid credit team provides directly-negotiated senior and subordinated loans to mid-market real estate and infrastructure borrowers, avoiding fund-of-funds intermediation to retain full control over asset servicing.

The core illiquid focus is real assets, comprising direct real estate, infrastructure, and private corporate credit. The firm also runs significant liquid credit and multi-asset books, but the strategic emphasis since Blanc's restructuring has been on expanding the direct origination of long-dated, inflation-linked assets to back its annuity liabilities.