ASIA – The Asian market dominated real estate capital-raising activity in June, with almost half of the equity raised, according to figures from Indirex.

Pan-Asian funds attracted 18% of cash invested, or $1bn (€760m), followed by China funds with 15% ($834m) and Japan funds with 13% ($721m).

Europe was the destination of the next largest proportion of equity at 20%, and, unusually, North American lagged at 14%.

However, Colin Barber, a spokesman at Indirex, warned about reading too much into this lag.

"The figures are based on announcements of money raised rather than what is actually raised," he said.

"It's better to look at a moving average over a period than look at specific numbers. The American market in the recent past has been raising a lot more money as they come out of recession. The money raised by Asia is catching up."

Though most of the capital raised (59%) was destined for value add or opportunity funds, which have dominated recently, core funds featured strongly, attracting 40% of cash.

Six funds raised $2.8bn of cash in Asia, with Blackstone through its first closing for BREP Asia reaching $1.5bn, Prologis issuing $721m of new shares to fund property acquisition and Gaw Capital Partners raising the cash in its Gateway Real Estate IV to $780m via a third closing.

Logistics funds saw increased activity across Asia and Europe.

The launch of the Nippon Prologois REIT was the most important, accounting for $721m of share issuance, while Segro European Logistics Partnership, a new joint venture, raised $303m for its Pan-European ex UK fund, and Everstone Capital raised $200m in the first closing of IndoSpace Logistics Parks II.

Barber said it made sense to consider figures over the quarter to get a more complete picture.

"Over three months, we have seen a strong quarter," he said.

"In April, $10bn was raised, which reduced to $7bn in May and $5.6bn in June.

"All that taken together is a substantial increase on previous quarters. The raising environment by comparison with this time last year is significantly stronger."

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