GLOBAL - Samsung Life, one of Korea's largest insurance and pension providers, is looking to invest in direct real estate in Europe and the US through RREEF.
The institution has awarded a KRW500bn (€315m) separate account mandate to the Deutsche Bank real estate subsidiary to invest in core real estate in gateway cities outside the Asia Pacific region.
Most recent figures show that Samsung Life had KRW726m invested in real estate assets as of March 2010, representing close to 4% of its total assets under management.
The new mandate could increase Samsung Life's real estate assets by more than two-thirds, although it is unclear what timeframe is envisaged for the investment programme.
The news comes less than a year after RREEF was awarded another large mandate by Asian institutional investor to invest in Western property markets.
In 2010, Malaysia's Employees Provident Fund hired RREEF to source investments in the UK real estate market.
Niel Thassim, head of RREEF Asia-Pacific, said: "This exciting win demonstrates RREEF's deep local investment talent in key target investment markets.
"The considerable advantage of having local professionals in the home markets of our clients, a global cross-border structuring and risk management team and the strong support of Deutsche Bank forms a strategic model that resonates with Asia-Pacific investors."
