Charter Hall hires from Macquarie

Former AMP property securities specialist Mark Ferguson has moved to Charter Hall to head up the Maxim Property Securities business.

In this role, he replaces Maxim's founder Winston Sammut who is stepping down from the role early next year.

Ferguson joins from Macquarie Group where he did a four-month stint after leaving AMP Capital.

There, he worked for 16 years most recently as the head of Australian Real Estate Securities.

Before that, Ferguson spent 11 years at Deutsche Asset Management as a senior portfolio manager.

Early in his career, he was a treasury analyst with Westpac.

The recruit will work with portfolio manager, Pat Barrett, as Maxim continues to provide strong risk-adjusted returns for institutional, high-net-worth individuals SMSFs and retail investors, consistent with the group's broader investor base.

Charter Hall chief executive David Harrison noted Ferguson's impressive and specialised career, adding that he brings deep experience to Maxim's funds after delivering sector-leading returns investing in REITs in previous roles.

Harrison thanked Winston Sammut for his dedication and impressive investor returns since joining Charter Hall in 2018.

Said Ferguson: "It is exciting to be delivering performance for our fund and partnership clients investing in the REIT sector currently priced at historically deep discounts to the net asset value.

"This provides both strong income distribution yields and prospective capital growth."

Sammut added: "I am pleased to hand over this multi-award-winning fund to Mark Ferguson, and I am confident that through his knowledge and track record, he is capable of continuing the outstanding returns to investors into the future."