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Morley, the world's largest manager of European commercial property assets*, today announces a key appointment in its expansion into Asia. Nick Ridgewell will join Morley as head of the company's Asian property business, having previously worked as managing director of Macquarie Bank's real estate business in Hong Kong.

Nick brings a wealth of experience to Morley, having been seconded to Hong Kong for five years to manage Macquarie's real estate business in Asia. This included responsibility for managing listed and unlisted real estate funds and execution of property investment strategy and transactions throughout Asia. More recently Nick has been based in Sydney as chief executive officer of Macquarie DDR Trust, a REIT listed on the Australian Stock Exchange. He was with Macquarie for more than 11 years after joining the Australian bank in 1996.     

Ian Womack, managing director - property, at Morley said: "This is a new position at Morley and given our growth ambitions in Asia we are delighted to have secured someone of Nick's calibre, with a well established track record and reputation in the region. We have strong ambitions for our property business in Asia and are confident we can replicate the rapid growth we have achieved in Europe."

Morley opened for business in Asia in April this year and plans to invest US$10 billion in the region over the next four years. The company plans to work with multiple joint venture and fund partners in Japan, China, South Korea and India to source developments and properties to meet its clients' needs. Morley's property investment business has grown rapidly in recent years with more than US$60 billion invested in property assets in the UK and Europe.

Before joining Macquarie, Nick worked for Coopers and Lybrand in Sydney. He is a fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales and an associate member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Australia.

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*As of 30 September 2006. Source: The Banker/Property funds Research global Manager Survey. March 2007.

For more information contact:
Angela Warburton
Corporate Communications
Telephone: 020 7809 8618

Notes to editors:

Morley
Morley is the UK-based asset management business of Aviva plc.  Firms within the Morley group of companies manage £168bn (€250bn) from offices around the world as at 30 June 2007.  

Morley manages both institutional and retail funds. It also acts as investment manager for a range of retail investment funds, marketed in the UK under the Norwich Union brand and in Europe under the Aviva Morley name. The property team manages in excess of £32bn (€48bn) of UK and European property assets.

Awards

• Best Property Manager, Financial News Excellence in Institutional Management Awards - Europe2007
• Morley ranks number one fund manager in the Thomson Extel SRI Survey, 2007
• Property Manager of the Year, UK Pensions Awards 2007
• Morley's G7 Fund awarded Fixed Income Hedge Fund of the Year, Eurohedge Awards 2007
• Equity End User of the Year - Derivatives Week DEAL Awards 2006
• Property Fund Manager of the Year, Pensions Management Awards 2006
• Best Commitment to Raising Standards of Trustee Education, Engaged Investor Awards 2006
• Property Fund Manager of the Year, Property Week Awards 2006
• SRI Provider of the Year, Global Pensions 2006
• Central European Property Awards 2005 - Outstanding Company of the Year & Investor of the Year
• UK Pensions Awards 2005 - Property Manager of the Year
• Property Week Awards 2004 - Best Property Fund Manager

With more than 90 investment professionals, Morley's Property team manages a range of funds on behalf of institutional, pension and retail clients. Morley has been at the forefront of innovation in property fund management and has launched fourteen specialist sector based funds with partners, including: Igloo Regeneration Fund, Quercus Healthcare Property, The Junction and The Mall. Further information about Morley can be found at http://www.morleyfm.com/

Aviva

• Aviva is the leading provider of life and pensions to Europe with substantial positions in other markets around the world, making it the world's fifth largest insurance group based on gross worldwide premiums at 31 December 2006.
• Aviva's principal business activities are long-term savings, fund management and general insurance, with worldwide total sales of £41.5 billion and assets under management of £364 billion at 31 December 2006.
• The Aviva media centre at www.aviva.com/media includes images, company and product information and a news release archive.