J.P. Morgan Asset Management has acquired insurance giant Aviva's Asia Pacific real estate platform, a direct real estate investment management platform that operates in Australia, Japan and Singapore, the companies said in a joint statement.
With this acquisition, the global real estate arm of JP Morgan has added capabilities in these markets besides its presence in India and Greater China. It has also taken on the investment management of existing Asia Pacific real estate funds and portfolios spanning core to value-added investments.
"Growing in Asia Pacific has been a strategic imperative for us as a global real assets solutions provider. With this acquisition, we have expanded our real estate investment capabilities, across the full risk spectrum from core to opportunistic strategies, to help our clients increase their allocations to dynamic growth markets in Asia Pacific," said Joe Azelby, head, J.P. Morgan Asset Management – Global Real Assets.
"Asia Pacific presents an enormous investment opportunity for our clients. We have accelerated the expansion of our geographic footprint into key real estate markets and added high quality personnel on the ground with extensive market expertise and deep local relationships. With today's announcement, J.P. Morgan is even better able to provide comprehensive pan-Asian property solutions," said David Chen, head, Real Estate Asia Pacific, J.P. Morgan Asset Management – Global Real Assets.
J.P. Morgan Asset Management currently has a 400-member global team which it expects will be bolstered by the addition of the current Aviva Asia Pacific real estate team. Its combined Asia team now has 50 real estate professionals who operate from five offices throughout Asia Pacific – Hong Kong, Mumbai, Singapore, Shanghai and Sydney. Its sixth office in Tokyo is scheduled to open in early 2015.
J.P. Morgan has been investing in Asia property since 2006 and manages $82 billion in property, infrastructure and maritime assets globally.
The real estate arm of the global financial services giant is currently raising its eighth global fund and aims to scoop up as much as $3 billion. It is understood that the fund will give a bigger play to Asia this time around. It is expected to deploy as much as $250 million in India from the latest fund.
After clocking heavy losses in its sixth fund, the company has gained some ground on the back of success of its seventh fund.
As reported by VCCircle, in India, it has started looking at proposals and is expected to deploy capital from the latest fund soon.
(Edited by Joby Puthuparampil Johnson)