CapitaLand Leads Asia’s Real Estate Fund Managers as AUM for Top Players Rise 35%

CapitaLand again led an annual ranking of Asia Pacific’s largest property fund managers, as the Singapore firm built a war chest of $61.3 billion of assets under management (AUM) in 2017, according to a recent survey by the Hong Kong-based Asian Association for Investors in Non-Listed Real Estate Vehicles Limited (ANREV) and its global affiliates.

“We are pleased to top the ANREV survey ranking of Asia Pacific managers with the highest total real estate assets under management every year since the survey was launched in 2015,” said Lim Ming Yan, president and group CEO of Temasek Holdings-backed CapitaLand Group. “This survey reaffirms CapitaLand’s status as a dominant real estate player.”

CapitaLand was followed in the survey of private equity fund raising for the real estate industry by its cross-town rivals from Mapletree Investments which had $32.3 billion in AUM, and ARA Asset Management which had $26.4 billion. Notably, the AUM of the top three managers in Asia Pacific increased by nearly 35 percent from 2016, reflecting both rising asset values and net capital inflows.

Pensions Funds Account for Over Half of Assets

Perhaps not surprisingly, pension funds are the largest investors in Asian non-listed direct real estate vehicles, making up 51.3 percent of AUM, according to the ANREV survey. The long-term fiduciary needs of pension funds match well with the over-the-horizon prospects for property assets in the Asia Pacific region, say some industry analysts. Sovereign wealth funds accounted for 15.8 percent of regional AUM surveyed.

The survey indicates plenty of room for global capital to move into the Asian Pacific; for example, globally just 16.9 percent of institutional funds surveyed were invested in the populous and growing economies of the Asian Pacific, compared to 36.9 percent in North America and 33.8 percent in Europe. Just under 12 percent of global institutional real estate funds were deployed in international strategies.

Asia Still Lags Behind the US in Assets Under Management

However, the world’s largest real estate fund managers remain based in the US, led The Blackstone Group $193.8 billion in real estate-related AUM, followed by Brookfield Asset Management in second place with $155.5 billion and PGIM in the third position with $127.9 billion.

Industry consolidation proceeds apace in the real estate fund arena, reported ANREV. “The survey still points to a consolidation trend in the industry, with almost a quarter of respondents in the global
survey saying they had been involved in M&A transactions over the past decade,” said the trade group.

ANREV is an investor-based not-for-profit organization focused on improving transparency and accessibility of market information, promoting best industry practices, and the sharing of knowledge. The association is a sister organization to INREV, the European Association for Investors in Non-Listed Real Estate Vehicles. ANREV, INREV and US-based The National Council of Real Estate Investment Fiduciaries (NCREIF) conducted the 2018 Fund Manager Survey.