Bouwinvest Reveals $100M Investment with PAG

Amsterdam-based Bouwinvest Real Estate Investors has committed $100 million to Asian investments managed by private equity firm PAG, according to an announcement last week.

Bouwinvest’s cash has already been put to work under PAG’s real estate division acquiring 26 office properties in Asia Pacific, including Mapletree Bay Point, an office building in Hong Kong’s Kowloon East, which has since been renamed as the International Trade Tower.

The Amsterdam-based firm announced its investment as PAG prepares for a $2.25 billion final close on its PAG Real Estate Partners II fund within the coming weeks. Inquiries to PAG requesting additional details regarding Bouinvest’s commitment went unanswered at the time of publication.

Dutch Investors Target APAC Offices

“This investment fits our Asia-Pacific portfolio really well and is the latest step in our ambition to increase our exposure to offices and create a well-diversified international portfolio with a good sector mix,” Tjarko Edzes, Bouwinvest’s director of Asia Pacific investments said in a statement.

Edzes, who relocated to Sydney earlier this year to open Bouwinvest’s first Asia Pacific operation, also noted that the company’s strategy targets liquid markets and office buildings that generate attractive cashflow with potential for future growth.

“We aim to grow international investments to 40 percent of our total portfolio in the next few years,” Edzes added. Bouwinvest, which manages a global portfolio of a €11.3 billion ($12.6 billion) according to its website, invested the $100 million under its international mandate for the region from Dutch construction workers pension fund bpfBOUW.

Bouwinvest, pointed out in its statement that its investment with PAG had been made in partnership with other institutional investors and that $700 million in funds committed by the partnership had already been spent acquiring 26 office assets in the region.

While PAG has yet to comment publicly on the transaction, PAG, which manages multiple investment strategies, acquired Mapletree Bay Point from Singapore’s Mapletree Investments in February of this year for for a price of as much as HK$9.9 billion ($1.27 billion). The property’s new International Trade Tower identity was revealed earlier this month.

In addition to investing in the 660,301 square foot (61,344 square metre) Kowloon East property, Bouwinvest revealed that the fund has acquired stakes in office projects in Tokyo, Osaka, Seoul and Auckland.

PAG Prepares for Final Close on Core Plus/Value Add Fund

PAG officially filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in May last year to kick off capital raising for PAG Real Estate Partners II fund, a pan-Asian core plus/value-add follow-on to its original PAG Real Estate Partners vehicle.

According to a report in PERE early in June, PAG was expecting to reach a final $2.25 billion close on the pooled investment vehicle within the next two months with after having originally targetted $2 billion in fresh capital.

In September of last year PAG announced that it had reached a $1.9 billion final close on its Secured Capital Real Estate Partners VI (SCREP VI) fund, an opportunistic Asian real estate vehicle focused on the Japan market.

In addition to its office-focused investment with PAG, Bouwinvest earlier this year joined with its compatriots from APG Asset Management in a $450 million fund investing in Asian multi-family residential projects managed by a joint venture between Greystar and Australia’s Macquarie Group.