All Real Assets articles in May 2010 (Online)

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  • News

    Munich buy reflects the robustness of residential

    2010-05-04T14:00:00Z

    GERMANY – An unnamed European institutional investor – understood to be a German pension fund – has acquired a fully rented 274-unit residential block in a Munich suburb for €42.1m.

  • News

    Imperial Tobacco holds on to performance accolade

    2010-05-04T14:10:00Z

    UK – The Imperial Tobacco pension scheme, winner of the coveted long-term performance award at the IPD/IPF UK Property Investment Awards in London, has highlighted the importance of consistency and adding value to existing assets.

  • News

    Half of real estate funds ‘will bleed to death’

    2010-05-04T15:00:00Z

    GLOBAL - As many as 50% of fund managers will go out of business in an industry shakeout that still has far to go, according to Claude Angéloz of the Swiss-based Partners Group.

  • News

    Pension funds and IVG co-invest in green fund

    2010-05-04T16:00:00Z

    EUROPE – Four unnamed pension funds – three German, one Austrian – have each invested €33m in a €300m sustainable office fund.

  • News

    Maine PERS to ramp up real estate exposure in 2010

    2010-05-06T15:01:00Z

    UNITED STATES - Maine Public Employees Retirement System is planning to invest between $100m (€76.5m) and $200m in real estate in 2010.

  • News

    Valuers ‘could do better’, say investors

    2010-05-06T16:00:00Z

    GLOBAL – More than a third of investors believe valuers “could do better”, according to an unpublished survey of 63 fund managers active in a number of markets.

  • News

    CPPIB and Kimco join forces to hunt US retail

    2010-05-06T16:02:00Z

    AMERICAS – The Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB) has acquired a $166.5m (€125.8m) interest in four US shopping centers through a joint venture with Kimco Realty Corporation.

  • News

    UK lending improves but still faces uncertainty

    2010-05-06T16:05:00Z

    UK – Bank of England figures show that real estate lending in the UK recovered slightly in the first quarter of 2009, but Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL) has warned that secondary assets remain a significant problem.

  • News

    Cooper joins Townsend to attack European and Asian markets

    2010-05-06T16:49:00Z

    GLOBAL – Former ING Real Estate Select CEO Nick Cooper has joined The Townsend Group as part of a push to develop the group’s multi-manager business in Europe and Asia.

  • News

    Outperformance from asset quality not lease length – L&G Property

    2010-05-06T16:53:00Z

    UK – Asset quality – not lease length – should be the primary indicator of value for UK property, according to Robin Martin, head of performance analysis and research at Legal & General Property.

  • News

    EC slates ‘disproportionate’ German tax test

    2010-05-10T16:00:00Z

    GERMANY – Pension funds will shun German property companies unless the government lifts “disproportionate” tests that allow overseas companies relief on 26% withholding tax, according Ernst & Young.

  • News

    APG acquires Nice shopping centre in three-way deal

    2010-05-10T16:30:00Z

    FRANCE/NETHERLANDS - A three-way joint venture involving Dutch pension fund ABP has acquired Cap 3000, a Nice shopping centre, for €450m.

  • News

    BarCap to sell stake in university housing arm

    2010-05-10T16:30:00Z

    UK – Barclays Capital is to sell part of University Partnerships Programme (UPP), its on-campus student accommodation manager, in a bid to raise £800m (€933m) for projects that will double the size of its portfolio.

  • News

    Premature redemptions point to nervous German investors

    2010-05-10T17:00:00Z

    GERMANY – Redemptions in open-ended real estate funds, sparked by a German ministerial report proposing a 10% cut in property valuations, have caused some managers to re-freeze funds. But fund managers have blamed the latest spate of redemptions on market nervousness rather than a sensible reaction to talk of reform.

  • News

    Chinese investors buy back residential after pricing policy move

    2010-05-13T15:20:00Z

    CHINA - A group of Chinese investors has acquired a prime serviced residential block in Shanghai from SEB Asset Management (SEBAM)’s Asian property SICAV – the latest deal in a trend for Asian investors to replace capital from European and US pension funds.

  • News

    Norwegian oil fund appoints PE property manager

    2010-05-13T15:30:00Z

    NORWAY - Karsten Kallevig is to manage the planned NOK140bn (€16.6bn) property portfolio of the €346bn Norwegian Global Pension Fund. The Tokyo-based partner in real estate private equity firm Grove will join the fund early in September.

  • News

    Investors look past prime to secondary assets

    2010-05-13T17:30:00Z

    EUROPE - European pension funds will look to secondary assets in search of higher returns as economies recover across the region, according to Simon Mallinson, director of research at Invesco.

  • News

    Macro drives Euro growth as UK confidence boosts non-listed funds

    2010-05-13T17:40:00Z

    EUROPE - Broad recovery in European property markets raises the prospect that markets such as Denmark and the Netherlands could escape the cyclical downturn altogether.

  • News

    Illinois State doubles ING Clarion account

    2010-05-17T16:00:00Z

    UNITED STATES – Illinois State Board of Investment has allocated an extra $200m (€155m) to its existing separate account mandate with ING Clarion Partners as it seeks to increase its real estate exposure.

  • News

    Banks will ‘drip feed, not dump’ property assets

    2010-05-17T16:00:00Z

    UK – More banks will offload their real estate assets via joint ventures with property companies – then drip-feed those left over, according to John Danes, Aberdeen’s head of UK research and investment strategy.