Pradera, the specialist retail fund and asset manager, is spreading its wings beyond Europe by forming a joint venture with Australia's Macquarie to provide asset management services for retail real estate assets in Asia.
Pradera Retail Asia, headquartered in Hong Kong, has been formed on a 50:50 basis between London-headquartered Pradera and a subsidiary of Macquarie Infrastructure and Real Assets (MIRA) in Hong Kong.
The JV company will initially provide management services to three Mosaic-branded retail properties located in the Chinese cities of Shanghai, Qingdao and Xi’an. The assets are owned by MIRA-managed companies. MIRA will continue to be the portfolio manager and provide strategic asset management to all its properties.
'This joint venture reflects our long-held ambition to take our tried and trusted approach in the retail property market into new geographies. We're excited to share our know-how with MIRA and look forward to driving growth for our clients,' said David Fletcher, managing director of Pradera.
Pradera chairman Colin Campbell added: 'We've been looking to Asia for some time and readying ourselves for the right opportunity. The joint venture with MIRA makes perfect sense. We share a common focus in retail investment and property and asset management but also have complementary strengths and expertise.'
The move comes about four months after Pradera sold a minority share in its €2 bn business to global multi-family office LJ Partnership. LJ Partnership's largest shareholders are family offices and businesses from Hong Kong and Latin America.