Henderson to double AuM in France

Henderson Global Investors plans to increase its assets under management in France to over €2 bn in the next three years, HGI’s head of property France Thibault Ancely and president Peter Winstanley told PropertyEU.

'Between now and end 2015 we want to double our assets under management and we are working to achieve this target,’ the two managers said.

Henderson will focus on offices in Paris and shopping centres across the country. 'We start seeing buying opportunities from retail groups which need to cash in to finance new developments in emerging markets,’ they noted.

On the office front, the company will be looking to buy outdated assets at attractive pricing. ‘We are interested in repositioning product as more than half the office stock in Paris is obsolete,’ they pointed out.

Henderson added significantly to its French operations last year with the purchase of local privately-owned asset manager Horizon Investment Management, which brought Henderson's managed portfolio to 50 properties valued at over € 1 bn.

As part of the acquisition, Henderson took on six employees from Horizon France, bringing the combined team to 13 persons. 'The two businesses complemented each other as Horizon France’s primary capability was in the office and logistics sectors while Henderson’s primary expertise lies within the retail sector,’ the managers said.

The operation was also complementary in terms of investment focus, as Horizon specialised in value-added investments while HGI’s main focus was on core properties, they added.

In line with the group’s growth plans in France, HGI has recently re-organised its Paris team across two strands, one for retail assets and one for office & light industrial assets. Ara Adjennian and Jasper Gilbey have been appointed respectively Retail Director and as Office and Industrial Director.

The offices and industrial teams acquire and manage assets on behalf of AUB, Warburg-Henderson, separate accounts and the assets in the value-added Horizon French Property Partnership I, covering the full risk spectrum from core to opportunistic. The retail team acquires and manages core to core plus assets on behalf of the Henderson European Retail Property Fund and Warburg-Henderson.