UNITED STATES - JPMorgan Asset Management raised in excess of $600m (€380.6m) for its latest commingled fund, the JPMorgan Greater China Property Fund.

Joe Azelby, global head for real estate and infrastructure at the firm, believes in investing in Greater China on a long-term basis.

"This region of the world has an ongoing mass urbanisation, rising income levels and economic strength. And this has created strong demand for real estate developments across all property types," said Azelby.

Many institutional investors, including pension funds, appear to agree with the manager as JPMorgan managed to exceed its original target fundraising by at least 20% through a variety of investors based in the United States, Asia, Europe and the Middle East.

The fund has total capitalisation of $1.2bn, and JPMorgan will be seeking emerging market opportunistic real estate returns for the commingled fund over a targeted holding period of 3-5 years, while the commingled fund has a 7-10 year shelf life.

David Chen, chief investment officer and head of JPMorgan Real Estate in Asia, said the overall investment strategy for the commingled fund is to invest equity in new development projects.

"This kind of strategy gives us the greatest opportunities with the most appropriate risk adjusted returns," said Chen.

There are already three assets in the fund now with more on the horizon. Investments closed to date are a mixed-use office and retail development in Shanghai, a residential development in Wuxi and an investment in a residential developer based in Southern China.

The commingled fund does not have any investments in western China - the region recently affected by a massive earthquake and still facing subsequent aftershocks. JP Morgan's investment fund did not experience any direct losses and there is no sign at this stage of any financial impact on an indirect basis.

Greater China Property Fund is expected to be invested in China, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan and its primary focus will be to fund the construction of new projects and investments in the office, residential, retail and hospitality sectors, through the creation of project-level joint venture relationships with multiple operating partners in Greater China.

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