Fortis Invest eyes Japan pension funds

TOKYO, Nov 21 (Reuters) - Fortis Investments, the global assets management arm of the Fortis group, is eyeing Japan’s multi-billion dollar pension funds as key investors for its two new investment funds next year worth a combined $745 million, its real estate chief said on Wednesday.

Fortis Investments, which has about 130 billion euros ($190 billion) in assets under management, will launch two new “funds of funds” — funds that hold a portfolio of other investment funds — focused on European and Asian property.

“We were very Europe-specific when we started two years ago but have diversified outside of Europe since,” Bart Coenraads, chief investment officer and head of real estate for Fortis Investments, told Reuters at the sidelines of a conference in Tokyo.

The firm currently has two Europe-focused fund-of-funds vehicles and a third invested in Asian assets.
Coenraads said he was particularly keen to attract Japanese pension fund investors as their allocations for real estate were minuscule relative to other asset classes.

“A lot of Japanese pension funds already invested in Japanese real estate now see opportunities in Asia ex-Japan,” he said, adding that Fortis Investments had already obtained a $40 million commitment from a Japanese pension fund investor for an existing fund of funds focused on Asia ex-Japan property.

Japan’s pension funds have traditionally parked their money in low-risk corporate and government bonds but are raising their investments in riskier assets such as equities and property to boost returns for the country’s ageing population. Fortis Investments has about 2.5 billion euros in global real estate exposure — 25 percent of which is run through its fund-of-funds vehicles. The remaining 75 percent of its property-related holdings are in publicly traded securities.

“Many pension funds don’t have the internal capabilities to get the sort of exposure that they can get by buying into a fund of funds,” Coenraads said.Coenraads plans to raise about $300 million for the new Asian fund of funds, about half of which will be invested in Japanese funds. The remaining portfolio will be invested in China, Malaysia, Vietnam, India and Singapore assets.

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Omaxe may tap West Asia as Indian real estate market cools
Filed under: India Real Estate News Updates, Commercial, Residential, New Development — Administrator @ 1:26 am Edit This

Source: http://www.livemint.com/2007/11/21005026/Omaxe-may-tap-West-Asia-as-Ind.html

New Delhi: Real estate company Omaxe Ltd has decided to develop properties overseas in places such as Dubai in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) as the real estate market in India starts to cool and profits get squeezed.The developer plans to build commercial and residential properties in Dubai.

“Last year was very bad for developers,” Rohtas Goel, chairman and managing director, Omaxe, said. “Prices declined by 10% and even by 30% in some locations, which has forced developers to look at overseas markets for expansion,” he added.

The company has decided to enter the Dubai real estate market as the average yearly return on an investment in Dubai is slightly better than in India, Goel said. “It is also easier to do real estate business in Dubai compared to India,” he added.

Omaxe will float an offshore development company to enter the Dubai market. Goel declined to say how much money Omaxe had earmarked for overseas development.

The company will develop real estate through joint ventures with a local real estate developer. Omaxe has to find a local developer to market property in Dubai in keeping with regulations of the UAE government. “We can acquire the land on our own, but to market the property we need a local partner,” Goel said.

Omaxe is in talks with several developers from Dubai for a possible tie-up. But nothing has been finalized yet, Goel said. In the last seven to eight months, the real estate market in New Delhi and its suburbs has seen a decline in demand mostly because of the high interest rates on home loans, which are at a five-year high. The interest rates have increased to 12%, compared with 9% just a year ago. That, coupled with the rising value of land, is making homes more expensive and less affordable—keeping buyers at bay.

“A few developers might be looking at overseas markets because of the high cost of land in India,” said Ganesh Raj, head, real estate practice at audit and consulting firm Ernst & Young India. “As return is a function of price of land, given the present cost of land, developers probably feel that returns in the overseas markets will be better. However, very few developers have actually started real estate development in offshore markets,” Raj added.

Omaxe’s plans to go global comes in the wake of similar efforts by other developers. Parsvnath Developers Ltd has decided to venture into real estate development in the UK, Singapore, UAE, Muscat and Mauritius. DLF Ltd is looking at international acquisitions, and Ansal API Ltd has a partnership with Malaysia’s UEM Group to bid for government projects in Malaysia.Investors are not willing to buy residential properties any more as the interest rates have shot up and it is costlier to buy homes on borrowed money.

Investors are gradually exiting the real estate market, say developers. While investors constituted 70% of the buyers last year, it is now the reverse, Goel said. “Now the actual end-users constitute 70% of the buyers,” he added. Omaxe is present in 30 cities and nine states in India. The company operates across residential, commercial and retail verticals. Omaxe made an initial public offering of shares in July and raised around Rs600 crore.

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November 20, 2007
India Property Fair attracts interest
Filed under: Other Real Estate Resources, India Real Estate News Updates — Administrator @ 2:42 am Edit This

Source: http://www.kuwaittimes.net/read_news.php?newsid=NjU3ODM3MjM5

KUWAIT: A three-day event at the Salmiya Palace Hotel organized by Maya Design Inspired drew an encouraging response from expatriate Indians in Kuwait. More than 1,200 visitors attended the show, which was held November 15-17, from 10 am to 10 pm.

The event was inaugurated by Marcos Williams, chairman of the Kuwait-India Business Council, and was later graced by the presence of M. Ganapathi, the Indian ambassador. Several high-profile Indian and Kuwaiti visitors also attended.

Leading Indian property developers from cities such as Bangalore, Chennai, Delhi, Goa and Jaipur presented a wide range of choices, including apartments, developed plots, luxury villas and penthouses. The event’s main sponsor, top housing finance company HDFC, provided the home-loan support and advice during the show.

A seminar on Indian Real Estate, including NRI/FDI investment, was conducted by real estate expert V Nagarajan. Visitors during the show included doctors, entrepreneurs, IT professionals and senior company executives, all of whom shared an interest in the growing real estate markets of many Indian cities.

The quality of visitors was truly professional, and they are keenly interested in committing to select projects across the country,” said a leading developer from Bangalore. As a result of the serious interest shown, participating builders can confidently look forward to an expected turnover of more than INR 25 crores in the coming weeks.

HIRCO - Hiranandani Palace Garden, Chennai, won the Best Stall Award, while HDFC was accorded the Most Valued Support Award by the organizers of the exhibition.
A survey of visitors revealed that Kuwait’s NRI market is still untapped, and that a huge potential exists for Indian developers to showcase their projects.

The organizers of Maya Design Inspired have scheduled another property fair during the first half of 2008 and are confident that it will draw an even greater response.