AUM up 12% for top 5 Singapore property funds targeting Asia-Pac

Singapore

THE top five Singapore real estate fund managers recorded US$141.4 billion in assets under management (AUM) dedicated for Asia-Pacific (APAC) strategies in 2018, 12.22 per cent higher than the US$126 billion recorded in 2017.

This makes up almost one-quarter (24.12 per cent) of the US$586.2 billion total APAC real estate AUM, according to a fund manager survey by three real estate industry associations.

CapitaLand Limited topped 2018 APAC and Singapore rankings with US$55.9 billion in APAC AUM, while logistics group GLP was second with US$36.3 billion and Mapletree was third with US$28.3 billion.

Ascendas-Singbridge, which was bought by CapitaLand earlier this year, was fourth in Singapore rankings, holding US$11.4 billion AUM while Alpha Investment Partners, part of Keppel Capital, rounded off Singapore's top five in fifth place with US$9.5 billion.

In 2017, the top five, in order, were CapitaLand Limited, Mapletree Investments Pte Ltd, ARA Asset Management Limited, Ascendas-Singbridge and GLP. Their combined US$126 billion AUM made up 26.25 per cent of US$480 billion of total APAC real estate AUM.

APAC's US$586.2 billion 2018 total AUM represents 18.4 per cent of US$3.2 trillion in global real estate AUM, up from 16.9 per cent in 2017.

Non-listed real estate - namely funds, separate accounts, joint ventures, club deals, funds of funds and debt products - made up 73.6 per cent of APAC AUM, although this is less than the 87.7 per cent for European strategies and 75.2 per cent for North America.

Globally, non-listed real estate represented a large portion (84 per cent or US$2.7 trillion) of the US$3.2 trillion total AUM for 2018.

Within APAC non-listed real estate, non-listed funds make up more than half of the non-listed real estate vehicles' AUM at 57.2 per cent, in line with the 57.8 per cent for Europe and 51.1 per cent for North America.

The source of capital for APAC non-listed direct real estate vehicles mostly originated from the region's investors, 75.1 per cent, in line with the general bias of regional strategies being funded by domestic capital. North American investors made up 14.2 per cent and European investors 10.2 per cent.

This puts APAC in the middle of the pack for investor diversity, with the US sourcing only 61.4 per cent of their AUM domestically and Europe sourcing 80.2 per cent domestically.

In terms of APAC investor composition, pension funds represented over half (50.2 per cent) of non-listed direct real estate AUM (direct asset buying).

Sovereign wealth funds are the next largest source of capital for real estate in APAC, making up 15.7 per cent of AUM, followed by insurance companies at 11.2 per cent.

The general uptick in AUM volumes and significant growth of some individual managers reflected continuing consolidation in the real estate industry. Almost one-fifth of managers reported involvement in mergers or acquisitions over the past 10 years, with 30 per cent of them citing the expansion of global footprint as the main motivation for M&A (merger and acquisition) activity.

The survey was jointly conducted by the not-for-profit organisation Asian Association for Investors in Non-Listed Real Estate Vehicles (ANREV), European Association for Investors in Non-Listed Real Estate Vehicles and National Council of Real Estate Investment Fiduciaries.

"The surge in total real estate assets under management generally and among specific managers is further evidence of real estate's important diversification role, with the increase in Asia-Pacific's share of total real estate assets under management a reflection of this trend," said Amélie Delaunay, ANREV director of research and professional standards.