MGPA has 13 offices across Asia and Europe and focuses on real estate funds management, co-investments and separate accounts mandates for institutional investors. As at the end of March it had $12bn in AUM.
Following completion of the deal, expected at the end of Q3 2013, BlackRock will have investment teams in six of the world’s top markets which account for 75% of the investible real estate universe.
According to the firm, there will be no overlap of people or products. The value of the deal is undisclosed.
Fund range
UK real estate is particularly attractive to overseas investors in the current market and properties in central London are magnetizing the bulk of capital commitments. As reported last week, over half of real estate transactions in London were cross border in 2012.
BlackRock’s retail real estate offerings include the BlackRock UK Property Fund, the performance of which over the past year is shown in the graph below.
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The fund currently has around £2.4bn under management, which it invests in UK commercial property.
Its private equity real estate funds cover the US, UK, and Australian markets, and it also has a debt-only focus on Europe; find out more about the recent surge in European debt-focused funds here.
MGPA meanwhile, has raised a number of private equity real estate funds and has acquired assets in countries across both Asia and Europe.
Asien Spezialfonds was launched in September 2011 and is targeting €500m in capital commitments from German institutional investors. In May it held a second close, having raised €135m.
Speaking at the time, John Saunders, CEO – Asia for MGPA, said: “The most interesting markets at present for creating low risk real estate returns are in Japan, Australia and Hong Kong, driven by macroeconomic and real estate market dynamics. As always, the keys to success will be large, experienced teams on the ground and expert local knowledge”
