EPRA to work more closely with pension funds

The Europe Public Real Estate Association (EPRA) is to pay more attention to pension funds that invest in property equities but remain an under-represented group within the association.

EPRA CEO Philips Charls revealed during the EPRA Amsterdam discussion panel event recently that it is to hold preliminary discussions with two of the world's largest funds - from Europe and the Far East.

Reviewing 2009, Charls said the organisation had lost 20 of its 220 members during the turbulent year. But he said the organisation is becoming increasingly active in new territories such as Asia and Japan and the US west coast. Referring to the decision to hold the 90-minute panel event in Amsterdam, Charls commented, 'This is the first session in Amsterdam, though we have held smaller events in Paris. For a number of years we have also held a panel forum in London with the law firm Nabarro.'

He said such short, usually after-hours meetings are a means to reach out to the local real estate community in individual countries. ‘There is a time gap between the longer conferences, and we’d like to attract people via these focused and swift discussions who might not be able to get on the European panel.’

Shortly before the Amsterdam event EPRA released a new monthly overview of all property transactions by the companies in the FTSE EPRA/NAREIT Developed Global Real Estate Index Series. The information is compiled by Real Capital Analytics and is only available to EPRA members. Fraser Hughes, Research director at EPRA, explained the report was designed to provide more fundamental information to investors in listed real estate. 'If you have bought the index you can see the buildings you have effectively lost exposure to because they have been sold out of the index, or you have gained exposure to,' he said.