M&G to almost double size of Asia-Pac fund

[SYDNEY] M&G Real Estate, the property investment unit of Prudential plc, plans to almost double its Asia-Pacific fund's size in response to growing investor demand.

London-based M&G, which has US$30 billion under management globally, is targeting US$3 billion of properties in the Asia-Pacific region for the fund by 2017 from US$1.7 billion now, said manager Erle Spratt. The fund, which has no investments in China, also expects to enter the world's second-biggest economy within two years, he added.

"Our ambition is fairly significant because it matches the opportunity that we see," Mr Spratt said in Singapore yesterday. "If you look at the global real estate universe, about one-third is in the Asia Pacific now and that's been growing at a double-digit rate for the past decade."