Stanlib’s head of listed property Keillen Ndlovu resigns

Keillen Ndlovu, the long-time head of listed property funds at Stanlib, has resigned, the asset management group confirmed in a statement late on Wednesday.

Ndlovu’s departure will come as somewhat of  surprise to the listed property industry. He has been involved in the sector for over 15 years – around a decade of this time at the helm of Stanlib’s listed property unit.

“Keillen will hand over to Nesi Chetty, senior portfolio manager, who will take over as head of the Stanlib Listed Property team at the end of October 2021,” the group said.

Commenting on the transition, Stanlib’s head of investments Mark Lovett noted that clients’ listed property investments “remain in very capable hands”.

“All our investment teams are deliberately structured to ensure that there is a depth of skill, talent, and experience… Nesi and the strong team of analysts will continue to follow the team’s entrenched investment philosophy and process,” he added.

“We will miss Keillen’s passion, professionalism and devotion to what he does and wish him the very best in his future endeavours,” said Lovett.

After starting off at Standard Bank in 2004, Ndlovu joined Stanlib in 2005. He was appointed head of listed property in 2010.

In the role, Ndlovu managed the largest listed property unit trusts in South Africa, the Stanlib Property Income Fund as well as the Stanlib Global Property Fund.

Stanlib’s Listed Property team, with total assets under management of over R11 billion, has won numerous Raging Bull and Morningstar awards over the years for top performance. Under Ndlovu’s tenure, the team has expanded its listed property offering to global property markets.

Chetty was headhunted by Stanlib from Momentum Investments in 2019.

“He has since been co-managing the Stanlib local and global listed property funds with Ndlovu. He has more than 20 years’ experience and was head of listed property at Momentum Investments for 10 years prior to joining Stanlib,” the group pointed out.