LaSalle Investment Management ('LaSalle'), the leading global real estate investment manager, has secured a fully discretionary separate account with a major European institutional investor. Since the start of 2011, LaSalle has gathered 800 million of new capital for continental Europe.
The investment focus for this new core plus separate account will be the markets of continental Europe, specifically France and Germany, in the office and retail sectors. Under the new mandate, the investment manager is also considering investing in other European countries and the logistics sector.
Further new commitments to European core real estate have recently come from two specialist investment funds operated by LaSalle Investment Management Kapitalanlagegesellschaft mbH ('LaSalle KAG'), following the granting of a license by the German Federal Financial Supervisory Authority ('BaFin') in January 2011. LaSalle KAG is 100% owned by LaSalle GmbH and is based in Munich, Germany. Four German assets are in due diligence for KAG structures three high street retail properties and one prime office building
Andy Watson, Head of Core Funds and Separate Accounts for Continental Europe, LaSalle Investment Management said, "At a relatively low point in the economic and real estate cycles, we have built up good momentum for both raising and investing capital.
"The core/core plus markets of Paris offices and German retail are the most liquid on the continent of Europe. In both sectors, we have a very good track record and strong teams in place to maximize the investment opportunities on behalf of our clients. We are already closing a number of suitable assets and look forward to progressing these and others in the coming months."
LaSalle's strength in the European core real estate market is underpinned by its well established Encore+ fund, an open-ended property fund focused on continental Europe. Encore+ is part of a global suite of long-term, open-ended property funds managed by LaSalle, which has a proven track record of investing in core real estate on behalf of institutional investors. The fund negotiated the downturn in the European property markets well, and is in a promising growth phase, having delivered outperformance in 2010 with a net distribution yield of 5.7% and total return over 11%.
Source: Citigate Dewe Rogerson
