All articles by Richard Lowe – Page 89
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UK pension fund sells LandSecs HQ
UK – LaSalle Investment Management has sold the headquarters of Land Securities in London on behalf of an unnamed pension fund client.
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Savills sets focus on real estate alternatives
UK – Savills has launched a series of papers to identify alternative property sectors, in response to unprecedented volatility seen in the mainstream UK commercial real estate market.
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VBV re-grades real estate as higher risk
AUSTRIA – The financial crisis has prompted Austrian pension fund VBV to view real estate investing as more risky and tactical in nature than previously assumed, and requiring a more flexible allocation policy.
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INREV members fear market will not recover until 2011
EUROPE – Investor sentiment among the unlisted real estate funds community in Europe has deteriorated since the end of 2008 to the extent that most believe markets will not improve before 2011.
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Varma acts on real estate regrowth
FINLAND – VR Pension Fund has re-entered the real estate market after a two-year absence, following the decision by a Finnish construction company to sell assets to local pension funds.
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INREV sees continued delays to fund terminations
EUROPE – Investors in unlisted real estate vehicles are more often than not opting to delay fund terminations due in the next two to three years.
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Liability-driven investment ‘should contain property’
UK – Liability driven investment (LDI) portfolios should include commercial real estate, according to Pramerica Real Estate Investors.
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USS disposes of industrial space
UK – The Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS) has sold 11 industrial assets from its recently acquired Equiton portfolio to Scottish Widows Investment Partnership Property (SWIP) Trust.
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Aberdeen pension fund goes shopping in East Anglia
UK – Aberdeen Property Investors has purchased five retail units in the UK on behalf of the Aberdeen City Council Pension Fund.
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BBC pension fund moves out of London’s Regent Street
UK – CB Richard Ellis Investors has confirmed the sale of Mutual House, owned by the pension scheme of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), for £30m (€32.1m), reflecting a yield of 5.4%.
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GE pension fund caught up in real estate loan battle
FRANCE – Creditors of Paris office complex Coeur Défense may appeal a court ruling which forced them to extend a securitised €1.5bn loan to the property’s joint owners, one of which is a General Electric pension fund.
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USS snaps another high street bargain
UK – The Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS) has made another retail acquisition in the UK, taking its total UK real estate investment in 2009 to £300m (€327m).
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INREV’s van Doorn returns to ING roots
EUROPE – Lisette van Doorn is leaving the European Association for Investors in Non-Listed Real Estate Vehicles (INREV) to rejoin ING Real Estate Investment Management.
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SWIP re-enters European retail property
EUROPE – Scottish Widows Investment Partnership (SWIP) has signalled its intention to re-enter the continental European real estate market with the launch of retail fund run in partnership with Cushman & Wakefield Investors (CWI).
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Oregon tops up distressed debt real estate holdings
US – Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund has demonstrated its ongoing commitment to Lone Star Funds by committing a further $400m (€273.6m) of capital to the distressed real estate debt specialist.
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APG-led action forces ProLogis into talks
EUROPE – Prologis European Properties (PEPR) has postponed an extraordinary general meeting (EGM) following shareholder activism led by APG.
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Return targets are aimed too high, say real estate experts
US/UK – Return expectations for opportunistic real estate strategies targeting the UK and US may be too high, experts have warned.
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RBS pension fund signs airspace tenants
UK – Standard Life Investments has let over 105,000 square feet of warehouse space in the South East of England on behalf of the pension fund of the Royal Bank of Scotland.
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UK pensions see fresh life in real estate
UK – More than half of UK pension funds are planning to increase their allocation to commercial real estate, despite the dramatic falls in values since 2007, according to research by investment manager Prupim and the Pensions Management Institute.
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German real estate potential leapfrogs London and Paris
EUROPE – Munich has overtaken London and Paris as the best European city for real estate investment over the medium-term, according to LaSalle Investment Management.
 



