Allianz Real Estate, the real estate investment and asset manager of Germany's Allianz Group, has seen assets under management increase to €67.1 bn as at the end of June 2019, up €3.6 bn since the start of the year.
Growth has come from continued expansion across Europe, the US and Asia Pacific and diversification across asset types, sectors and investment styles.
François Trausch, CEO of Allianz Real Estate, commented: 'The sophisticated nature of our clients means we are in a strong position to add new strategies each year. Our growth during the first half of 2019 underlines this approach as, alongside our impressive work in our core office sector, we have made significant investments in, for example, logistics and have increased our exposure to value-add.'
Here Allianz sees good value and pricing opportunities in the style, particularly with regards to the development of higher tech, more sustainable buildings. 'We have recently announced, for instance, new deals with developer EDGE Technologies in Hamburg and Berlin, as well as the redevelopment of our Corso Italia 23 asset in Milan, which set a benchmark for smart office buildings,' added Trausch.
The transaction in Berlin is also Allianz's first third-party equity deal and the group expects more such deals looking ahead as it targets €100 bn in AUM by 2024.
Equity investments
Equity investment has increased from €44.2 bn to €48.2 bn, up 9.1% since the start of 2019, with strong equity growth across all three of its territories: Europe, the US and Asia Pacific. While Asia has seen the strongest relative growth over the past six months – up 20% to €3.6 bn for the half-year period – US equity exposure has increased 14% to €5.7 bn while Europe gained 7.4% to €37.8 bn.
'While the global office sector remains our largest industrial allocation, we have announced a number of logistics deals in 2019 as global demand in quality logistics assets intensifies. Diversification continues to play a fundamental role in our investment strategy, depending on the best outcome for our investors and stakeholders. We have continued to benefit from this unconstrained approach,' said Olivier Téran, CIO of Allianz Real Estate.
Debt financing business
The debt financing business of Allianz Real Estate registered assets of €18.9 bn as at the end of June.
The firm’s European debt portfolio stood at €7.7 bn. In mid-June, the firm completed a prime real estate debt deal in Germany as sole lender for the refinancing of existing debt for Gropius Passagen in Berlin for €230 mln – taking its debt fund to €1.5 bn in deployed capital at the time.
