More Top Stories – Page 1118
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Marks & Spencer ‘could get REIT boost’
REAL ESTATE - Marks & Spencer could increase its share price by almost 80p to 580p if it places its property portfolio in a REIT, investment bank Morgan Stanley says. A research note issued by the bank’s real estate desk, anticipating th...
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Unite embroiled in student debt row
REAL ESTATE - Unite, which develops and manages student accommodation in the UK, has become embroiled in a row over student debt after extending contract terms. The firm is to extend mandatory contract terms for students in its Birmingham property...
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Texas Teachers starts €2.4bn real estate move
REAL ESTATE - The $96bn Teacher’s Retirement System of Texas has started its process of investing 3% or $2.88bn (€2.4bn) of its total assets in real estate. Its initial investment was a $100m allocation into the BlackRock Diamond Fund
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Swiss funds urged to up real estate
REAL ESTATE - Credit Suisse has urged Swiss pension funds to increase their real estate holdings to 20-30% – but the Zurich-based bank’s own corporate pension fund says it has no intention of doing so.
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UK schemes warm to real estate - Watson
REAL ESTATE - It’s taken them five years but UK pension funds are at last warming to real estate in a bid to diversify away from equities, according to research conducted by Watson Wyatt Investment Consulting into its clients’ approach to...
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CalSTRS creates value-added apartment fund
REAL ESTATE - The California State Teachers Retirement System has established a $1bn apartment fund to invest in value-added transactions. The Waterton Residential Property Fund IX will be run through Chicago-based Waterton Associates LLC. There...
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CalPERS to build industrials in Europe
REAL ESTATE - The California Public Employees Retirement System (CalPERS) is to invest between $200 million and $400m in a joint venture to develop industrial properties in Europe. Portfolio manager Jose McNeill said: "We think that this ki...
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Investors eye Eastern Europe – selectively
REAL ESTATE - The robust trade in Eastern European real estate has continued with acquisitions for GE Real Estate and divestments for IVG. GE expanded its Slovakian retail portfolio with the acquisition of three “Max” shopping centres...
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London scheme wary of real estate
REAL ESTATE – SAUL, the Superannuation Arrangements of the University of London, is avoiding real estate amid wider concerns about the transparency of ‘alternatives’. An investment committee meeting last week failed to decide on ...
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Dutch institutions in frame at Schiphol
REAL ESTATE – Dutch institutional investors could be in the frame if proposals to part-privatise Amsterdam’s Schiphol come through. With political agreement as remote as ever, the Dutch finance ministry has suggested a compromise combi...
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European yields not deterring investors
REAL ESTATE – Recent figures from European real estate firms show that there’s continuing investment in the asset class despite declining average yields. Yet much of the investment is taking place outside investors’ domestic mar...
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UK REITS problems ‘ not insurmountable’
REAL ESTATE - A semi-optimistic consensus has emerged in the industry response to draft UK Real Estate Investment Trust legislation after initial responses slammed the proposals as opaque and prohibitive. The draft, published in January, even fou...
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HSBC the latest to set up infrastructure firm
REAL ESTATE - HSBC is to set up an offshore investment company to exploit seemingly limitless investor appetite for infrastructure. The bank predicts an initial dividend yield of 5.75% in the company’s first financial year. HSBC spokesm...
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RREEF and NexCore in medical venture
REAL ESTATE - RREEF and NexCore Group have created a joint venture to invest $500 million in medical office buildings. A specific equity allocation for the venture has not been decided. The relationship will be handled on a deal-by-deal basis. De...
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Danica to freeze real estate allocation
REAL ESTATE - Danica Pension, Denmark’s largest life insurer, is to freeze its real estate holdings after announcing plans to increase its equity holdings from 16% to 20%-25%. The A+ rated insurer, which invests primarily in the Danish mar...
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Finnish state fund hails Aberdeen’s AIPP
REAL ESTATE – The state pension fund of Finland has said how pleased it – as one of the lead investors – is with the first year of the Aberdeen Indirect Property Partners (AIPP) Fund. The fund-of-fund announced final closing at t...
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CalSTRS goes big on Beacon office fund
REAL ESTATE - The California State Teachers Retirement System (CalSTERS) has made a $350m commitment to the Beacon Capital Strategic Partners IV fund. The pension fund regards this commitment as a follow-up investment. It has invested in two prev...
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Schemes raising allocations – AREF’s Cooper
REAL ESTATE - Pension funds can’t get enough of real estate, according to Association of Real Estate Funds (AREF) chairman Nick Cooper, with many of those already in the market increasing their holdings to 10% and above. “Pension fun...
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UK funds 'need new real estate mindset'
REAL ESTATE - UK pension funds need to upgrade their real estate managers if they’re to expand mandates into mainland Europe and beyond, according to Mercer consultant Greg Wright. Wright argues that yield compression and the opportunity...
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ABP details global real estate strategy
REAL ESTATE – Stichting Pensioenfonds ABP, the €200bn Dutch civil Service scheme, has decided not to invest in Russian real estate but is currently enacting deals in Mexico and Brazil. Speaking at the PropInvest Europe conference in B...