The asset management arm of Macquarie Group is looking to further its reach in the German market.

Macquarie Investment Management has appointed Markus Rottler to the newly-created role of head of distribution for the German professional buyer market.

Rottler joins after five years with Columbia Threadneedle, where he focused on both the professional buyer and institutional client segments. Before that, he spent seven years at Pioneer Investments in various portfolio management and client-facing roles.

Based in Munich, Rottler will introduce Macquarie’s range of investment capabilities to professional buyers in the German market. 

“The German professional buyers market is not an area that we have historically covered, so we are very pleased to have someone with Markus’ experience in the market to launch our efforts in this key market segment,” said Steve Haswell, head of distribution for Europe, the Middle East and Africa at MIM.

Macquarie, which operates in 64 offices across 28 countries, had assets under management of around £256 billion ($332 billion) as at 31 March 2016.