CBRE Global Investors Closes Asia Value-Added Fund

By Gail Kalinoski

Facility in Sapporo, Japan

CBRE Global Investors has closed an Asia value-added fund focusing on logistics assets, with equity investments totaling $1 billion.

The Los Angeles-based global real estate asset investment management firm noted 21 institutional investors in the Americas, Asia Pacific and EMEA invested in CBRE Asia Value Partners IV, including equity commitments to the fund and its co-investment vehicles.

Asia Value IV and its co-investment vehicles are expected to have total purchasing power of more than $2.5 billion, including leverage. The investment team has acquired or committed $1.1 billion in five investments, primarily in logistics assets in Japan and China. The fund started making investments immediately following the first close in July 2016, a CBRE Global Investors spokesperson told Commercial Property Executive. One of the assets is a facility in Sapporo, Japan, but further details on those investments were not available.

Adrian Baker, CIO-Asia Pacific, CBRE Global Investors

“Forecasts of private consumption growth in Asia Pacific are notably higher than in any other major regions. Additionally, Asia Pacific e-commerce sales as a percentage of total retail sales are the highest of all major regions and are expected to continue to grow at a faster pace. These factors support the case for investment in modern logistics facilities across the region,” Adrian Baker, CIO-Asia Pacific, CBRE Global Investors, said in a prepared statement.

The fund, which is now closed to new investors, is a continuation and evolution of the firm’s value-add investment programs. Asia Value IV’s investment strategy is creating core logistics assets through value-add investments, de-risked development in Asian Pacific liquid markets and selective investments in other sectors and opportunities.

Richard Price, CEO-Asia Pacific, CBRE Global Investors

“We expect to enhance value through a disciplined, cycle-aware investment and operations strategy. We have already made substantial progress in the execution of our strategy and thank our partners and their consultants for the confidence they have placed in us through their commitments to this fund,” Richard Price, CEO-Asia Pacific, CBRE Global Investors, said in a prepared statement.

An Asia Pacific Marketview Q2 2017 report by CBRE found that commercial real estate transaction volume was up 11.5 percent year-over-year to $53.2 billion in the first half of 2017. Activity was focused on China, Japan and Hong Kong, according to the report, which also cited e-commerce firms and third-party logistics companies as helping to strengthen the logistics demand. The second quarter saw expansion activity primarily in India and China tier 1 cities and relocations in Hong Kong. Overall logistics rents in the Asia Pacific market rose slightly in the second quarter.

CBRE Global Investors has $10 billion in assets under management in the Asia Pacific markets, in both public market real estate equity and core and value-added private equity real estate funds and separate accounts. Overall, the firm has $98.3 billion in assets under management as of Sept. 30.

Global investments

Earlier in the year, CBRE Global Investment Partners, a division of CBRE Global Investors, formed a new development venture in the United Kingdom with Prologis. The entity is expected to invest at least $1.2 billion in logistics real estate, including pursuing a develop-to-own strategy, in prime markets in the UK.

In the United States, CBRE Global Investment Partners acquired a 95 percent interest in a 10-state, 25-building medical office portfolio in August from Kayne Anderson Real Estate Advisors and MB Real Estate Healthcare. Many of the buildings are in the Atlanta and Chicago regions.

Images courtesy of CBRE Global Investors