Axa Real Estate has appointed a new boss to head up its Nordic asset management division.

Henrik Bastman will be based in Stockholm and will report to Alphons Spaninks, the regional head of property services for the Benelux and Nordics region and responsible for acquisitions and disposals for each client and fund mandate in his region.

Bastman joins from EFM, where he was head of asset management for the €1 billion Nordic Retail fund which has Cornerstone as its fund manager.

Prior to EFM, he worked for seven years at Jones Lang LaSalle, where he was an associate director in the company’s Stockholm office.

Anne Kavanagh, global head of property services for Axa Real Estate, said Bastman’s vast experience would be a massive boost to the team.

She explained, ‘His appointment underlines our strategy of having specialist in-house local teams working to ensure we maximise value from our assets on behalf of clients.

‘I welcome him to the business and look forward to working with him to support the delivery of our plans in the region.’

The investment company has £34.8 billion (€39.4 billion) of assets under management across Europe and manages around €1 billion of assets across the Nordic region, including landmark properties such as Voimatalo, a 9,389 sq metre eight storey office building in Helsinki's central business district and a 27,000 sq metre retail warehouse park in Kalmar.

The continuing crisis in the Eurozone has moved the spotlight to Nordic countries with investors seeking out other economies in which to invest.

Consisting of Denmark, Norway and Sweden, Scandinavia is a big player in energy, with Denmark and Norway specifically having significant North Sea oil and natural gas resources.

All three countries are relatively expensive, in terms of cost of living, compared to the UK and other European countries, but their population enjoys some of the highest standards of living in the world.