GIC Pte’s planned purchase of Blackstone Group LP’s U.S. industrial property company signals the Singapore sovereign wealth fund’s appetite for real estate as investments by other state funds wane.
The Singapore fund, which manages more than $100 billion, is leading a group said to be buying Blackstone’s IndCor Properties Inc. for more than $8 billion, two people with knowledge of the matter said. That will add to the building next to Tokyo station it bought last month and plans announced yesterday to co-invest in Auckland’s Viaduct Quarter.
GIC’s purchases come at a time when sovereign wealth funds are cutting back on real estate investments with more competition from insurers and pension funds. Direct property investments declined 43 percent to $5.9 billion in the first half from the previous year, the London-based Institutional Investor’s Sovereign Wealth Center said in a report yesterday.
“It appears that GIC is an exception as other state funds are investing less in real estate,” said Song Seng Wun, an economist at CIMB Research in Singapore. “They are thinking more long term than other state funds and go for higher risk and return.”
In addition to GIC, Norway’s state fund, the world’s biggest, is also expected to pursue more property deals. The fund formed a new real estate group in July and is seeking to invest almost $10 billion annually over the next three years.
Property made up 1.3 percent of the fund’s $813 billion holdings in the third quarter, compared with 0.9 percent a year earlier, according to its quarterly reports.
bloomberg.com
The Singapore fund, which manages more than $100 billion, is leading a group said to be buying Blackstone’s IndCor Properties Inc. for more than $8 billion, two people with knowledge of the matter said. That will add to the building next to Tokyo station it bought last month and plans announced yesterday to co-invest in Auckland’s Viaduct Quarter.
GIC’s purchases come at a time when sovereign wealth funds are cutting back on real estate investments with more competition from insurers and pension funds. Direct property investments declined 43 percent to $5.9 billion in the first half from the previous year, the London-based Institutional Investor’s Sovereign Wealth Center said in a report yesterday.
“It appears that GIC is an exception as other state funds are investing less in real estate,” said Song Seng Wun, an economist at CIMB Research in Singapore. “They are thinking more long term than other state funds and go for higher risk and return.”
In addition to GIC, Norway’s state fund, the world’s biggest, is also expected to pursue more property deals. The fund formed a new real estate group in July and is seeking to invest almost $10 billion annually over the next three years.
Property made up 1.3 percent of the fund’s $813 billion holdings in the third quarter, compared with 0.9 percent a year earlier, according to its quarterly reports.
bloomberg.com
No comments:
Post a Comment