Merck to Manage Metlife's $30B Real Estate Portfolio

NEW YORK CITY-Robert R. Merck will become the new head of real estate investments for MetLife. Merck will assume responsibility for managing the firm’s commercial mortgage and equity real estate portfolio, as well as its domestic and international real estate field operations. He will report directly to MetLife’s chief investment officer Lee Launer. He assumed his current duties on July 1. MetLife has a $30 billion real estate investment portfolio, consisting primarily of real estate equities and commercial mortgages. MetLife’s investment focus includes office, multifamily, industrial and retail properties.

Merck joined the company in 1982 and advanced through positions of increasing responsibility in the real estate investment department. From 1988 to 1992, he managed MetLife’s Charlotte regional office and from 1992 to 1996, he managed the Tampa regional office. In 1996, Merck moved to Atlanta and was asked to oversee equity real estate for the southeast and southwest regions, and in 2001 was tapped to head all of equity real estate for the company. Merck, who was born in Macon, GA, received a BBA degree from Emory University and an MBA from Georgia State University. He currently resides in Far Hills, NJ with his wife Kelley, and their two children.

MetLife is a subsidiary of MetLife Inc., which provides insurance and other financial services to individual and institutional customers.