In the newly created role, Mr. Lim will be responsible for assisting in the analysis of new debt opportunities and the management of TH Real Estate’s existing Asia Pacific debt portfolio.

Mr. Lim brings four years’ experience across M&A and real estate, previously working as a senior analyst at KPMG’s Deal Advisory division. Throughout his career at KPMG, he gained experience across a range of real estate sectors including office, industrial, retail, and residential developments.

Commenting on the appointment, Nick Evans, Head of Australia at TH Real Estate, said: “Nick’s strong analytical skills and broad experience make him a valuable contribution to our growing local commercial real estate debt business.”

Mr. Lim added: “Opportunities for non-bank lenders and debt funds to invest in commercial real estate debt is growing in Australia. I am delighted to work closely alongside TH Real Estate’s expert team to deliver the best possible opportunities for our clients in this space.”

Strong interest in CRE debt from institutions

Mr. Lim’s appointment expands the debt team led by Martin Priestley, Head of Debt, Asia Pacific, who was appointed last year to build TH Real Estate’s debt investment platform in Australia.

Mr. Priestley said the firm had a healthy pipeline through the latter part of 2018 and into 2019 with increasing activity from local institutional investors.

“Pullback from the market by the Australian commercial banks has heightened the need for alternative funding sources, creating an opportunity for institutional investors and debt funds to grow within the market,” said Mr. Priestley.

“There is now a permanent, attractive and executable investment opportunity for non-bank lenders and debt funds to provide a meaningful share of future commercial real estate debt finance in Australia. We have seen more than A$2 billion of lending opportunities in commercial real estate in the first half of 2018 alone and we expect this interest to continue,” said Mr. Priestley.

TH Real Estate, an affiliate of Nuveen, the investment manager of TIAA, is one of the largest real estate investment managers in the world with circa US$114 billion in assets under management globally.

The post TH Real Estate expands local Commercial Real Estate debt team with new analyst appeared first on AdviserVoice.

In this newly established investment strategy in Australia, Mr Priestley will oversee real estate debt investment and have responsibility for initially building a debt investment platform in Australia.  He will be responsible for investing client capital in Australia for both pooled funds and separate accounts, as well as oversee the deployment of TIAA debt allocations into the region.

Mr Priestley will be based in Sydney and report to Nick Evans, TH Real Estate Executive Director and Head of Australia, and Jack Gay, the Head of Global Debt Investment.

Mr Priestley has more than 25 years’ experience across real estate debt and equity including roles in investment banking, debt origination, funds management, corporate advisory and capital raising. He joins from CBRE where he led the Debt and Structured Finance (DSF) team in the Asia-Pacific region.

Commenting on the appointment, Mr Evans says: “Martin’s appointment is a reflection of our ongoing commitment and intention to build a strong business in Australia across real estate debt and equity. I am delighted somebody of Martin’s calibre is joining TH Real Estate and his track record and experience in debt and structured finance speaks for itself. I look forward to working closely with him as we build our debt capability in this important market.”

Mr Priestley adds: “This is an exciting time for TH Real Estate as we are committing to one of the most sophisticated real estate debt markets in the world.  I am looking forward to working with Nick and Jack in setting up the Australia venture and help build a long term and scalable business.”

Jack Gay, Head of Global Debt Investment, adds: “The demand for non-bank debt in Australia is steadily growing. Building a CRE debt team in Australia will complement our existing team in the US and Europe, providing our clients with global debt expertise and track record. Martin’s expertise and experience makes him well placed to lead this new initiative.”

TH Real Estate’s US debt platform has over 70 years of experience, investing since 1934. Since 2011, the platform has averaged US$3.3 billion in new originations per year. The European platform was established in 2014 and has AUM of US$1.4 billion.

Established in Australia since April 2014, TH Real Estate has built a portfolio of Australian real estate assets of around A$1.04 billion. The real estate specialist has also advised some of Australia’s largest institutional investors on their international real estate investments, including AustralianSuper and the FutureFund.

The post TH Real Estate appoints new Head of Debt for Australia appeared first on AdviserVoice.

Reagen is based in New York City and joins TH Real Estate after four years with MetLife Investment Management where as Head of Real Estate and Agricultural Research she oversaw all research and strategy related activities, with a focus on real estate. Previously, she created the Americas research platform for Aberdeen Asset Management and held a research and strategy role at LaSalle Investment Management.

“All of our investment decisions are informed by our market-leading research capabilities and I’m confident that Melissa is the right person to lead this effort,” said McGibbon.

Reagen will collaborate closely with London-based Global Research Head Alice Breheny. The current Americas research team will report to her, including Senior Directors Tom Park and Shannon Wright.

“We are focused on identifying global, regional and structural trends that inform our long-term strategy beyond market cycles, and Melissa’s deep expertise across US real estate greatly enhances our capabilities,” said Breheny. “In addition to helping drive our investment process, she will provide our clients and partners with excellent insights.”

Reagen earned her Master of Business Administration with concentrations in Finance, Econometrics and Statistics from The University of Chicago Booth School of Business, and holds a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from The University of Chicago. Melissa is active in key industry associations such as NAREIM and PREA, serves as the Chair of NCREIF’s Research Committee, and is a member of the NMHC research committee and the ICSC North American Research Task Force.

The post TH Real Estate appoints Melissa Reagen as Americas Research Head appeared first on AdviserVoice.

In his new role, Chris will work collaboratively with the region’s Head of Asset Management, Jayson Egan, and the business analytics function to provide support to TH Real Estate’s local business and Nick Evans. He will be responsible for acquisition, pricing, transaction execution, and financial modelling for potential opportunities, and managing the disposal of assets identified for sale.

Chris brings seven years’ valuation, analysis and underwriting experience across multiple sectors, with a good understanding of the real estate investment management industry.  He joins from Vicinity Group, where he focused on transaction management of approximately $1.5 billion worth of Real Estate. Prior to that, Chris held analyst roles at companies including Pembroke Real Estate and Challenger Limited.

Commenting on the appointment, Nick Evans said: “Chris’ exceptional transaction management experience and intimate understanding of the local market will be a strong addition to our Australian team and believe he will support the growth of the business in this region significantly.”

This appointment complements the ongoing expansion of the Australian team and follows the recent appointment of Lisa Peng as Real Estate Investment Analyst.

Established in Australia since April 2014, TH Real Estate has built a portfolio of Australian real estate assets of around A$1.04b. The real estate specialist has also advised some of Australia’s largest institutional investors on their international real estate investments, including AustralianSuper and the FutureFund.

“We have built real momentum over the past three years in Australia, evident by the number of high-profile acquisitions and team appointments. Chris’ appointment is further testament to our long-term commitment to build a successful business in Australia,” Mr Evans said.

The post TH Real Estate further expands Australian team with key appointment appeared first on AdviserVoice.

In the newly created role, Ms Peng will be responsible for providing analytical support, research, and financial analysis across the core functions of the TH Real Estate business in Australia, including equity investment and asset management.

Ms Peng has more than five years’ experience across property and financial analysis. She joins from St George Bank, where she was a real estate analyst and responsible for managing a portfolio of mid-market and institutional property clients with debt requirements up to A$100m. Prior to that she worked at ANZ Corporate and Commercial Banking as a credit analyst, conducting due diligence and in-depth credit analysis of new and existing property investment deals across diverse asset classes.

Commenting on the appointment, Mr Evans said: “We are delighted to welcome Lisa to the team. Her strong analytical skills and extensive experience in creating and running detailed financial analysis for international real estate investment make her a valuable addition to our local business.

“This appointment reaffirms our commitment to further growing our business locally and will provide critical resourcing to support the growth of the business in Australia.”

Established in Australia in April 2014, TH Real Estate has built a portfolio of Australian real estate assets of around A$1.04b. The real estate specialist has also advised some of Australia’s largest institutional investors on their international real estate investments, including AustralianSuper and the FutureFund.

“Our focus over the past three years has been on building a successful, long-term business locally, having identified Australia as a key part of our Asia-Pacific strategy. We are committed to continuing to build sustainable relationships with established partners and investors within the region,” Mr Evans said.

The post TH Real Estate strengthens Australian team with new investment analyst appeared first on AdviserVoice.

Alice Breheny

New report from ULI and TH Real Estate highlights that well-executed densification enables cities to adapt to global imperatives and avoid falling behind competitors

Densification is the key to responding to population growth, economic changes and new lifestyle preferences, according to a new report by the Urban Land Institute (ULI) and TH Real Estate.

The Density Dividend: Solutions for Growing and Shrinking Cities, draws from the experience of six European cities at various stages of population change and makes clear that many cities—especially those in Europe—have little choice but to densify. If they do not, they risk becoming locked into models of development that are inflexible, unattractive, unsustainable, and ultimately uncompetitive. For cities in Europe, density is now the critical tool to realise advantage and to avoid decline.

The report will be launched publicly at a session at EXPO REAL on Monday 5 October and at ULI’s Fall Meeting in San Francisco on Tuesday 6 October.

The report is the second piece of work in ULI’s density initiative, which seeks to increase knowledge of density in the real estate industry and beyond; to address the social, economic, and environmental benefits of investing in density; and to promote density as a priority for public and private leaders.

This report examines current densification in six European cities and the impact of different urban tools and tactics on densification efforts. At the same time, it looks at how density can play a role in building strategies for future cycles.

“By embarking on this project, we wanted to use the principles for good density outlined in our first report, Density: Drivers, Dividends and Debates, to demonstrate how cities in distinctive cycles and with different characteristics were applying them to their city development strategies,” said ULI Europe CEO Lisette van Doorn. “We hope this report develops further lessons for the industry on how density can make cities attractive to people, occupiers, and investors, today and in the future.”

“TH Real Estate advocates a city-level approach to real estate investment, believing that the most successful real estate strategy is likely to be city-based, underpinned by long-term, structural trends,” said Alice Breheny, Global Co-Head of Research at TH Real Estate. “This report helps deepen our own understanding of investment viability within specific cities. Although trends and drivers may point to a specific city as having potential for growth, it’s important to assess whether that city will be able to accommodate that growth via the capacity of its built environment to densify and absorb capital effectively.”

Authored by Prof Greg Clark, ULI Europe Senior Fellow and Dr Tim Moonen, Director of Intelligence at The Business of Cities Ltd., the report highlights what does and doesn’t work in making densification successful and popular, whether in ‘strongly-growing’, ‘bounce-back’ or ‘consolidating’ cities. It is informed by in-depth case studies of six cities: Birmingham, Dresden, Istanbul, London, Stockholm and Warsaw.

The case studies show that cities are moving at different speeds towards better and higher density. Some have 30 years or more of experience with compact city development and urban regeneration, and are on to their second or third cycle of dense re-development within the framework of ambitious city plans. Others are new to urban redevelopment or lack the tools to deliver density in an integrated way, relying instead on ad-hoc initiatives and innovation.

Progress on densification can only be achieved if a city focuses on three distinct elements comprising a new equation for density. When cities get these elements of the equation synchronised, sustained progress tends to happen towards better, higher density:

Get the fundamentals right

In order to increase density successfully, a city first needs leaders to develop a story and vision for its future evolution that can galvanise attention and support from residents, workers and investors alike. It must create a robust growth plan that provides a guiding framework within which development can proceed. These are fundamentals without which progress on density can only be partial and fragmented.

Prioritise execution arrangements

In order to operationalise the vision of a denser city, leaders then need tactics about where and how to densify. They need to achieve a critical mass of redevelopment and to promote a scale of urban adaptation that creates genuinely new dimensions to a city. They also need durable systems of investment and enhanced legal, land-use, and asset management tools to shape development fully.

Build and maintain momentum

In order to maintain momentum across political and economic cycles, cities also need to foster demand for new urban space and focus on the positive psychology of vibrant urban lifestyles and locations.

The post Population density is critical for cities to realise advantage and avoid decline appeared first on AdviserVoice.

Alice Breheny

Australian superannuation funds continue to prioritise exposure to global property, with retail opportunities in particular catching the attention of local institutional investors, according to global real estate heavyweight TIAA Henderson Real Estate (TH Real Estate).

TH Real Estate is one of the world’s largest real estate investment managers and the world’s leading retail investor with AUD$33.7bn* in retail assets under management. This week the firm launched new research – Picking Tomorrow’s World Cities – which advocates a city-level approach to real estate investment.

By adopting a proprietary filter process, TH Real Estate has scored over 200 European cities against individual economic and environmental fundamentals, as well as a global risk model, to identify cities that are ‘future proof’ for investors.

The report is the next instalment of TH Real Estate’s global megatrends research, and follows the release in November last year of The ‘Famous Five’: The five demographic megatrends that real estate cannot ignore.

The latest research examines the economic fundamentals of a range of ‘future proof’ cities, revealing a wide range of findings including:

• Istanbul will be the fastest growing city in terms of GDP growth change between 2010-2030
• London’s retail market will be the largest retail market in Europe by 2030, with retail sales worth US$600bn
• Switzerland’s Basel is the most productive city in terms of GDP per capita, followed by Geneva, Oslo, Zurich and Stockholm

According to TH Real Estate, the impact of megatrends – long-term structural trends – is likely to be much more notable at a city level, than nationally. Therefore the most successful real estate strategy is likely to be city-based, underpinned by structural, long-term trends.

Alice Breheny, Global Co-Head of Research at TH Real Estate said: “Challenging market conditions and evolving investor requirements mean we are increasingly looking at longer-term drivers of real estate performance. A city-based real estate strategy, underpinned by long-term, structural trends – that strikes the right balance of risk and diversification, while taking advantage of short-term pricing opportunities – will be best positioned for above-average portfolio level returns, lower-than-average volatility and modest downside risk, for long-term investors.”

Nick Evans, TH Real Estate Executive Director and Head of Australia said: “Australian institutional investors are showing increasing appetite for international real estate, in particular retail property, due to its low volatility, long lease terms and diversity of tenant base. While a range of opportunities exist across international markets, on the ground expertise is essential to ensuring any investment delivers the appropriate returns.”

For core investment strategies TH Real Estate suggests cities that score well on key fundamentals today (Defensive Cities) and those that score well today and tomorrow (Defensive Growth Cities). These are the cities TH Real Estate expects to capture an even greater share of global output and demand in the future.

Additionally, there are some cities which do not score well in traditional real estate terms today, but whose growth rates cannot be ignored (Growth Cities). With the largest real estate markets typically closely-correlated, driven by financial and business services, these offer a significant diversification benefit and the potential to further enhance returns.

Investors favour retail for stable, long-term income

The European market presents solid opportunities for Australian institutional investors. However, TH Real Estate believes investments should not be made indiscriminately and that understanding of the individual markets, their differing trends and consumer behaviour is essential.

Nick Evans, TH Real Estate Executive Director and Head of Australia, said tailored investment approach can be a compelling solution for large institutional investors looking to make a move in global real estate, providing them with the flexibility, exposure and returns they need.

Click here to view the full report Picking Tomorrow’s World Cities.

The post Australian super funds look offshore for retail bargains  appeared first on AdviserVoice.

Nick Evans

Global real estate heavyweight, TIAA Henderson Real Estate (TH Real Estate), is investing heavily into retail centres around the world, predicting attractive investment returns for institutional investors seeking to deliver strong and defensive income streams to members.

TH Real Estate is the world’s largest investor in retail property* with AUD$33.7bn** in retail assets under management. This week, the firm is hosting executives from its global retail business, to discuss new global investment opportunities with some of Australia’s most sophisticated institutional investors.

TH Real Estate Executive Director and Head of Australia, Nick Evans, says the retail sector continued to perform strongly, throughout 2014, and is well-placed to continue its strong performance.

While the broader retail sector has faced significant disrupters – namely the rapid growth of e-commerce and changing consumer behaviour – as well as economic downturns, Mr Evans said the changes were also creating significant opportunities within the sector.

Well-located retail centres, that dominate their catchment area and offer experience or convenience, are well-placed to secure greater returns as the sector matures, he said.

The future of retail centres

Key trends in global retail identified by TH Real Estate include:

• Experience or convenience: Retail properties of the future will need to accommodate either of these two key buyer demands
• Multi-channel retail formats: Retailers, investors and developers will look to meet buyer demand via a blend of online and physical offerings
• Increased connectivity: Shopping centres will recognise and connect with shoppers using mobile technology
• Quality customer service: Service will be increasingly important as shoppers become ever more selective
• Increased globalisation: International brands continue their infiltration of global markets

Nick Evans, TH Real Estate Executive Director and Head of Australia said:

“Technology and consumer preferences are having a dramatic impact on retail formats across the globe. We are advising clients that well-located and dominant retail schemes, with the flexibility to adapt and meet customer service demands, will be the future winners.

“E-commerce has seen a significant shift in buyer trends and preferences, with retailers in merchandise categories like books, music and electronics, taking a considerable hit. But buyers are still looking for that tangible experience when it comes to purchasing items such as clothing and home furnishings – they still like to touch and feel, and so while retailers are growing their online sales, a network of physical stores is still essential.

“The natural attrition of centres that lack a distinct location or critical mass, is actually improving outcomes and future prospects for dominant centres that are well-located. Expanding retailers looking to secure space in gateway locations and high profile centres will pay keenly to do so.”

Investors look to retail for stable, long-term income

Mr Evans said institutional investors were showing particular interest in investment solutions that cater to an ageing member base, and that retail property represented an attractive option for a growing number of investors. In particular, the property class is favoured for its low volatility, long lease terms and diversity of tenant base.

Given the substantial price tag attached to large format retail centres however, pooled investment vehicles, such as TH Real Estate’s UK Shopping Centre Fund, are proving an increasingly popular route to retail property investment, he said.

Nick Evans, TH Real Estate Executive Director and Head of Australia said: “Investment in good quality retail assets can provide investors with some of the best defensive, risk-adjusted returns around, acting as a good diversifier to more cyclical office markets.

“Analysis of net operating income (NOI) in the United States, for example, shows the US regional mall market has been more stable compared to other property sectors over both an extended time period of close to 20 years, including periods of economic downturn.

“Dominant retail centres attract significant price tags so we are concentrating on developing strategies to help institutional investors access in this market at a reduced outlay. Our pooled investment vehicles offer investors the opportunity to invest in high quality dominant malls alongside the world’s largest and most experienced investors and other like-minded institutional investors.”

——————-

*IP Real Estate Top 100 Investment Management Survey, November 2014

 **Figures as at 30 September 2014.

The post Global retail property a solid bet for 2015, says world’s largest investor appeared first on AdviserVoice.

Nick Evans

Global real estate group TIAA Henderson Real Estate (TH Real Estate) has earmarked 2015 as a year of resurgence for global real estate investing by Australian institutional investors – with Australian super funds leading the charge in search of long term stable income opportunities outside Australia.

Speaking at a briefing in Sydney today, Executive Director and Head of TH Real Estate’s Australian business, Nick Evans, said key demographic trends are impacting the investment decisions of the world’s largest investors including pension funds, endowments and sovereign wealth funds.

However, Australia’s fast growing super funds are in the box seat with a series of demographic megatrends converging on Asia and key gateway global cities.

According to recent data from Rice Warner*, Australia’s top ten super funds are on track to each amass assets of more than $100bn.

“Australian superfunds are rapidly joining the ranks of the world’s largest investors – yet at the same time fast growing out of the domestic real estate market,” Mr Evans said.

“Funds are also searching for better investment solutions for an increasingly ageing member base – people who want secure income at a reasonable level of risk to support a lengthy retirement.”

Demographic Megatrends

Earlier this month, TH Real Estate launched its inaugural global  ‘megatrends’ report, which outlines why the real estate industry needs to be more focused on bigger picture trends and insights – those that will impact the future use and demand for real estate globally over years and decades.

The report highlights five demographic megatrends that TH Real Estate believes will have the greatest impact on real estate:

• Urbanisation
• The rise of the global middle class
• Shift of economic power from the West
• Ageing demographics
• Global interconnectedness

The post Global real estate back on the agenda for Australian super funds  appeared first on AdviserVoice.