Jones comes to Crosslane from Qatar Broker International, where he was senior wealth manager and Qatar team manager; before that he was with Acuma, the Dubai-based wealth manager. Altogether Jones has been in the Gulf for more than five years, Crosslane said.
In his new role at Crosslane, Jones, whose title is senior vice president, will be responsible for marketing Crosslane’s Victus European Student Accommodation Fund across the region, and supporting advisers there, the company said.
Crosslane was established in 2007, and is the Victus fund’s promoter and property adviser. It previously created and launched two other UK student accommodation funds, which are closed-ended and therefore not currently open to new investors, according to a Crosslane spokesperson.
Mark Stubbs, sales director at Crosslane, said the company’s goal was to make itself “the primary point of contact” internationally for investors interested in the European student accommodation sector.
The open-ended Victus European Student Accommodation Fund is domiciled in Guernsey, and was launched in February 2013. It is managed by Prime Student Living Ltd, another Crosslane Group business. Over one year it has returned a cumulative 10.8%, and targets an annual return of 9 to 12%.
According to Crosslane, the fund blends “a mixture of mature property together with development opportunities”, in major university cities in Europe.
The Crosslane Group was founded by Michael Sharples and James Metcalf in 2007, and shares offices with Crosslane Fund Managers in Manchester.
Last year, International Adviser reported the Victus European Student Accommodation Fund's acquisition of a 179-bed property in Oldenburg, Germany.
