News – Page 1099

  • News

    Townsend gets larger role at Ohio fund

    2006-03-06T00:00:00Z

    REAL ESTATE - The $10.6bn Ohio Police & Fire Pension Fund has decided to let its real estate consultant, Cleveland-based the Townsend Group, to work with its separate account real estate managers. In the past, the pension fund had its senior r...

  • News

    Deutsche write-down lower than estimated

    2006-03-06T00:00:00Z

    REAL ESTATE – DB Real Estate, the property fund arm of Deutsche Bank, has re-opened its core German real estate fund following a write-down of its holdings which, at €147m, was lower than previously estimated. Following the surprise cl...

  • News

    CalSTRS to expand apartment venture

    2006-03-06T00:00:00Z

    REAL ESTATE – The California State Teachers Retirement System has expanded an existing joint venture with BlackRock Realty to invest in apartments that will have a total capitalization of $1.2bn (€1bn). There is a total of $420m of equ...

  • News

    Stouthamer’s Composition opens HK office

    2006-03-06T00:00:00Z

    REAL ESTATE – Erwin Stouthamer’s Composition Capital Partners has opened a regional office in Hong Kong. The office would deal with local partners and scout out new investment opportunities for its Asia private real estate fund of fund...

  • News

    Ilmarinen wary of real estate price rises

    2006-03-06T00:00:00Z

    REAL ESTATE - Economic growth could prove just as big a risk to real estate investors as slowdown, according to Finnish pension fund Ilmarinen. Against a buoyant Finnish economy, year-end results revealed that Ilmarinen’s €2.1bn real e...

  • News

    Ontario fund to raise real estate allocation

    2006-03-06T00:00:00Z

    REAL ESTATE – OMERS, the C$41.1bn (€30.0bn) Ontario Municipal Employees’ Retirement System, is to raise its real estate allocation to 12.5% from the current 8.1%. It comes amid a plan to raise its allocation to real estate, priva...

  • News

    Firms selling property to pay for pensions

    2006-02-28T00:00:00Z

    REAL ESTATE - Two of Britain’s most high-profile firms are to plug pension fund deficits with property assets. BAE Systems says it plans to help plug its £2.4bn (€3.5bn) main pension fund deficit with £240m in property asset...

  • News

    Corio in court action over Italy deal

    2006-02-28T00:00:00Z

    REAL ESTATE - Retail property management firm Corio has filed suit for €46.8m against Italy’s Barletta Group over the 2003 turnkey acquisition of Campania shopping centre outside Naples. Corio claims the company has failed to comply w...

  • News

    BNP Paribas reduces Klepierre holding

    2006-02-28T00:00:00Z

    REAL ESTATE - BNP Paribas has played down its decision to sell part of its share in French property firm Klepierre. A spokeswoman for the bank described the decision to reduce its shareholding from above 53% to below 51% as “not a significa...

  • News

    Alaska fund to buy into Simpson Housing

    2006-02-28T00:00:00Z

    REAL ESTATE - The Alaska Permanent Fund Corporation is to acquire a 50% interest in Simpson Housing Corporation which is currently held by the State of Michigan Retirement System. The transaction is set to close by the end of March. The size of ...

  • News

    Marks & Spencer ‘could get REIT boost’

    2006-02-28T00:00:00Z

    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...

  • News

    Unite embroiled in student debt row

    2006-02-28T00:00:00Z

    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...

  • News

    Texas Teachers starts €2.4bn real estate move

    2006-02-28T00:00:00Z

    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

  • News

    Swiss funds urged to up real estate

    2006-02-28T00:00:00Z

    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.

  • News

    UK schemes warm to real estate - Watson

    2006-02-20T00:00:00Z

    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...

  • News

    CalSTRS creates value-added apartment fund

    2006-02-20T00:00:00Z

    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...

  • News

    CalPERS to build industrials in Europe

    2006-02-20T00:00:00Z

    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...

  • News

    Investors eye Eastern Europe – selectively

    2006-02-20T00:00:00Z

    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...

  • News

    London scheme wary of real estate

    2006-02-20T00:00:00Z

    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 ...

  • News

    Dutch institutions in frame at Schiphol

    2006-02-20T00:00:00Z

    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...