(Bloomberg) -- Aware Super and Delancey Real Estate have teamed up to invest 1 billion pounds ($1.3 billion) into UK property, targeting high-end offices in central London.
Aware Super, Australia’s third-largest pension fund, and Delancey will also look at retail, logistics and mixed use properties, according to a statement Friday. The deal adds to Aware’s existing 22% stake in build-to-rent provider Get Living, which was founded by Delancey.
Commercial real estate has been in turmoil since the global pandemic, providing opportunity for buyers at discounts. Aware Super’s chief investment officer Damian Graham in June said he was hunting for global property assets, but signaled at the time that high quality office values remained too expensive.
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“A key theme of our global real estate strategy is anticipating future trends and making counter-cyclical investments,” said Alek Misev, Aware Super’s head of property, in the statement. “This has reaped strong rewards and we believe that under-valued Central London offices also fit this profile.”
Aware Super is the latest large fund in Australia’s booming A$3.9 trillion pension industry to turn its focus to property. Last month, rival HESTA said it was switching its attention to real estate, albeit with a tilt to distressed commercial property opportunities in offshore markets. Australian Retirement Trust, with more than A$300 billion, also has property on its wishlist.
The International Monetary Fund this week raised concerns about the amount of money Australia’s pension funds are investing in private markets. The IMF said allocations to illiquid markets could be cause a “liquidity mismatch” that may have an impact “in a liquidity stress event.” About one fifth of Australia’s retirement assets are in unlisted markets.
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