US-based investment manager Blackrock is reportedly the frontrunner to buy opportunistic property fund manager MGPA.
US-based investment manager Blackrock is reportedly the frontrunner to buy opportunistic property fund manager MGPA.
According to a news report in UK magazine PropertyWeek, Blackrock is the final party in talks to acquire the private equity firm, which is 56% owned by Australian investment bank Macquarie, and 44% owned by the company’s management.
The takeover would expand Blackrock's property operation in Asia, where MGPA has been active since 1999 and maintains a substantial real estate organisation with seven offices and over 150 employees.
The Australian financial press suggested MGPA could fetch a price of up to £140 mln (€165 mln).
The company manages some $11 bn of real estate across Europe and Asia.
It is the second attempt to sell a large property fund manager in the recent past. RREEF, the property investment arm of Deutsche Bank, was put up for sale in early 2012 but talks with potential buyer Guggenheim feel through as investors could not agree on sales terms.
The company, which has recently been renamed Deutsche Asset & Wealth Management, is struggling with an exodus of executives including CEO Chris Papachristophorou and global CIO Kurt Roeloffs.
