CBRE Closes Fund for $1.2B in Investments in Asia

Continuing to tap into Asia’s coveted real estate markets, CB Richard Ellis Investors has just closed its second value added investment fund for the region. Strategic Partners Asia II closed with equity commitments of about $400 million, leaving it with total purchasing power valued at an estimated $1.2 billion. Asia II will target Japan, which has one of the largest economies in the world, as well as China, India and Korea, destinations that top the list of the world’s largest economies that are presently growing at breakneck speed. The fund will focus on the acquisition, development, and repositioning of premier real estate in the aforementioned markets, with a particular emphasis on Japan and China. And the fund will cast a wide net with regard to property types. “We are looking at office, retail residential and industrial properties,” a CBRE Investors spokesperson told CPN today. While CBRE Investors has not revealed more detailed information about the new fund’s plans, on its website the company offers insight into its Asia program which, in Japan, involves Tokyo’s thriving office market, where both domestic and foreign companies shell out the big bucks for top-notch accommodations. The company’s strategy in China targets the retail market in major metropolitan cities where demand for high-quality offerings is soaring due to a growing middle class.CBRE Investors’ second Asia investment program commanded interest from a broad range of investors, including parties in the United States, Europe and Australia.An independently operated affiliate of CB Richard Ellis Group Inc., Los Angeles-based CBRE Investors is a global real estate investment management firm with $38 billion in assets under management as of the close of 2007. Last year, the company closed $11.7 billion in acquisitions and $4.8 billion in dispositions across North America, Europe and Asia.