Dutch institutional real estate manager Bouwinvest Real Estate Investors has opened an office in New York City to increase its investment exposure in North America where it currently has $1.65 bn (€1.4 bn) in assets under management.
Bert van den Hoek, senior portfolio manager at Bouwinvest, will head the NYC satellite office with a view to strengthening Bouwinvest’s network in North America and boosting its AUM in the region to $2.0 bn (€1.7 bn) by the end of 2022.
New York is the second international satellite office Bouwinvest has opened in the past 18 months, after Sydney for the Asia-Pacific markets, and underscores 'the appetite of Dutch pension funds for sustainable real estate strategies in North America', the company said.
Bouwinvest’s international mandates in North America, Europe and Asia-Pacific currently account for $4.3 bn (€3.6 bn) in invested capital and it has another $1.65 bn (€1.4 bn) in entrusted capital for these three regions. It aims to raise the international total to over $5.9 bn (€5 bn) in the next few years.
Stephen Tross, chief investment officer for international investments at the firm, said: 'We see great opportunities to build on our already substantial North American investments in coming years, with a particular focus on sustainable investments taking advantage of the secular growth trends we have identified and which only seem to have strengthened during Covid-19.'
He added: 'We are very pleased with the performance of our Sydney office and believe Bouwinvest’s New York base will also strengthen our ability to source investments and extend our North American network of relationships.'
Bouwinvest has been active in North America since 2010 and has built a diversified, mostly core, portfolio of investments in urban areas, including recent commitments to last-mile logistics and office real estate. Together with its partner Avanath, Bouwinvest has also invested in affordable housing in markets with supply-demand imbalances such as New York, San Francisco and Seattle.
Van den Hoek, who will lead the investment drive from the NY office, joined Bouwinvest at the beginning of this year and has broad international experience in both Europe and the
US with Partners Group, Deutsche Bank, PGGM, GIC, Morgan Stanley and Westbrook Partners.
Gijs Plantinga, director of North American investments at Bouwinvest, said: 'With this second international office, we have made an important step towards further diversifying our international portfolio and boosting the share of international investments in Bouwinvest’s total investments. We look forward to building on our existing, as well as new relationships, and maintaining our investment momentum across the North American market.'
In recent years, Bouwinvest has significantly broadened its institutional investor base and at end-December 2019 had capital commitments from 25 pension funds and insurers totalling €15.1 bn. The international investments are managed exclusively for the Dutch Constructions Workers Pension Fund, bpfBouw, one of the largest real estate investors in the Netherlands with over €60 bn of assets under management.
