This article is from the Australian Property Journal archive
AMP Capital Investors has launched the Global Direct Property Fund, which plans to invest in a strategic mix of international direct property assets in Europe, North America and Asia.
The fund will be headed up by recently appointed Chris Judd, who has more than 15 years in the property industry and extensive experience in portfolio management.
AMP Capital Investors director of property Andrew Bird said the Global Direct Property Fund has formed key partnerships with local experts in the European and North American markets.
“I’m delighted to announce that we are working with Cordea Savills LLC in the United Kingdom and Europe, while Urdang Capital Management is our partner in North America.
“Both our new partners have very successful track records in property investment management in their respective regions. Their local market expertise will prove invaluable to the success of the Global Direct Property Fund,” Bird said.
AMP Capital Investors will manage direct property assets in the Asian region from its recently established Singapore office. Simon Vinson has been appointed as managing director Singapore and head of property Asia.
Vinson was previously head of the Sydney based property business development team and will be responsible for expanding AMP Capital Investors business in the region with a focus on developing property investment opportunities.
Bird said the launch of the fund comes amid increasing demand from institutional investors for a greater variety of quality property opportunities.
“The Australian real estate market represents just 2% of the global property sector. The Global Direct Property Fund now opens up a whole new world of investment opportunities for clients,” he added.
A recent AMP Capital Investors research paper found that demand for property in Australia is forecast to grow at an annual rate of 8%, much faster than the supply of domestic property, which is forecast to grow at only 3% each year.
Along with regional diversification, the Global Direct Property Fund also allows institutional investors to access international property opportunities outside the listed sector.
“The fundamentals point to a clear case for clients to increasingly look outside of Australia and beyond listed property securities in order to diversify their portfolios,” Bird said.
The fund’s strategy is to invest in core and core-plus assets in each regional market.
“Core assets are those considered to have secure and low risk cash flows over the medium to longer term, whilst core-plus assets are those that have the potential to become core assets, over time, through active management,” Bird said.
The open-ended fund is available to Australian and International institutional investors and plans to make its first investments by the end of the year.
By Adam Parsons
