Mark Howard-Johnson, formerly of Building & Land Technology, has been appointed to head the division, which is expected to take on about six more investment professionals by the end of the year, the company said.

As global head of Real Estate Securities Management, Mr. Howard-Johnson will lead a team whose mandate is to source investible trends in real estate.

“BlackRock real estate investments span a wide range of strategies which now, with the addition of the active strategy, will be even more integrated and complementary of each other,” Mr. Howard-Johnson said in a statement. “I’m proud to be part of this superior team and look forward to strengthening the firm’s product offering for the benefit of our clients.

BlackRock’s global head of Real Estate Jack Chandler said that the move was “a natural extension of the firm’s robust real estate capabilities,” adding that it “will further strengthen our ability to offer our institutional and retail clients an unrivaled set of real estate solutions.”

Mr. Howard-Johnson was previously chief investment officer at Building & Land Technology, where he launched its real estate securities management division. He was also global head and chief investment officer of REIT management at Goldman Sachs Asset Management.

 CGaines@observer.com