Allianz’s real estate investment and asset management arm said on Thursday that its assets under management reached a record €73.6 bn at year-end 2019, up 16% on the previous year.
Equity investments increased 20% to €52.9 bn while debt financing reached €20.7 bn, up 8% year-on-year.
‘Allianz Real Estate has delivered an exceptional year of growth and expansion, with increased penetration across asset classes, sectors and strategies. Diversification remains fundamental to our success, and this has been evidenced by our growth in Asia, the strength of our US and European debt business and our logistics portfolio, which increased 36% to €7.5 bn in AUM,’ said Francois Trausch, CEO & CIO of Allianz Real Estate.
While Europe remained the largest market overall, with total assets up 14% to €48.9 bn, growth was particularly pronounced in the Asia-Pacific region, which rose 83% to €5.5 bn. In the US, Allianz Real Estate closed a record number of debt deals (60), with overall US AUM up 10% to €18.1 bn.
Over the 12-month period, Allianz Real Estate opened new offices in London, Luxembourg and Stockholm, bringing the total number of offices it has across the world to 21.
In September 2019, the firm announced its first third-party equity transaction: an office development in Berlin on behalf of German pension fund BVK. The asset, being developed by Edge and set for completion in 2023, will make significant use of ‘smart’ technology which places tenant well-being and sustainability at its core.
‘We expect to increase our allocation to core and core plus investments as we capitalise on our momentum in 2020. Growth will very likely remain strong as our investors, including third party institutions, continue to allocate to real estate and look to the strength of Allianz Real Estate. We are particularly encouraged by the interest from the like-minded institutional investors looking to invest alongside Allianz, notably within the Asia-Pacific and our European debt fund,’ said Annette Kröger, CEO for North & Central Europe, Allianz Real Estate.
Just a few days ago the company teamed up with Portuguese property and development firm Sonae Sierra, pension giant APG and Elo to create a €1.8 bn vehicle invested in prime Iberian shopping centres.
