Naish's role at DTZ will be to spearhead the further development of the fund management operation in the UK, which provides property investment advice for segregated portfolios for pension funds and charities. Currently, DTZ's fund management team oversees assets estimated to be worth £0.5 billion ($0.8 billion) and also provides strategy advice on property valued at a further £4.0 billion ($6.4 billion).

Prior to founding Fountain Capital Partners in 2002, Naish worked at Jones Lang LaSalle where, latterly, he was UK managing director of LaSalle Investment Management as well as being an international director of Jones Lang LaSalle. He had been at JLL since 1981, when it was Jones Lang Wootton, prior to the 1999 merger between LaSalle and JLW.

One of Fountain's co-founders Robert Campbell said: "We are sorry to see Malcolm leave, but we fully understand his decision as his professional aspirations are tied to the UK market, a market we are not currently focusing on." Fountain has reacted to the departure of Naish with two appointments, hiring Tony Smedley--ex head of Jones Lang LaSalle's investment team in Brussels-- and former Heitman investment analyst Luke Mackenzie.