ING Real Estate is to open an office in Bucharest to spearhead its drive into the Romanian market.

It has appointed Siep Hoeksma as its country manager and head of its Romanian development team. Hoeksma has worked at ING since 1980 and in his most recent position was in charge of development in the UK.

Menno Maas, chief executive officer at ING Real Estate Development said: ‘Siep Hoeksma will help us to grow and diversify our development pipe-line in Central Europe. The way he created a solid portfolio for future growth in the United Kingdom gives us big confidence in repeating this in Romania.’