Brookfield regains position as biggest global RE fund manager

Brookfield Asset Management has regained its place at the top of the league table of the world’s largest real estate fund managers, according to a new global report.

The ANREV/INREV/NCREIF Fund Manager Survey 2015, based on data from 164 members of the three organisations, ranks Brookfield Asset Management as the largest property fund manager with €103.8bn in assets under management, followed by the Blackstone Group with €99.5bn – a reversal of last year’s results.

Brookfield’s assets had risen from €78.3bn last year, while Blackstone’s had grown from €78.6bn.

CBRE Global Investors held onto its third-place ranking with €74.5bn under management.

The three managers have dominated the top three positions in the survey since 2012.

Total AUM of all respondents rose 28.6% from the 2014 survey, to stand at €1.8trn.

The survey found that the top 10 fund managers represented 36.5% or €650bn of total AUM.

Fund managers in the bottom AUM quartile managed just over 1.1% of assets combined, INREV said.

Henri Vuong, INREV’s director of research and market information, said: “This survey clearly reflects the continuing domination of the large players and an enduring trend for consolidation.”

This trend had been driven by the economies of scale, or the desire to tap into new markets and expertise, she said.

“It’s one that is likely to accelerate rather than unwind in the immediate future.”

Within Europe, and based on total European non-listed direct real estate vehicles AUM, AXA Real Estate ranked the largest property asset manager with €43.4bn, followed by Credit Suisse with €32.1bn and CBRE Global Investors with €27.1bn.

In Asia-Pacific, Fosun Property Holdings was the largest in the 2015 study with €18.5bn, ahead of CapitaLand in second place with €13.3bn and Lend Lease, third with €10.2bn.

JP Morgan Asset Management led the North American ranking with €42bn, followed by Pramerica Real Estate Investors with €30.9bn and Clarion Partners with €27.1bn.

Institutional investors made up the majority (85.4%) of the sources of capital the asset managers invested in non-listed direct real estate, the study showed.

The proportion of this money coming from pension funds fell slightly to 42.8% from 50.4% last year, while insurance companies made up 14%, up from 13.6%.

Capital from high-net-worth individuals and family offices grew to 7.5% in 2014 compared with 4.9% the previous year.

Sovereign wealth funds were the source of 6.7% of the capital, down from 7.7% last year and much lower than the 15% they had been behind in 2011.