Property Securities (Global): ING positions itself for growth

Recognising how difficult it has been for companies to access credit, and with a recessionary environment impacting earnings, ING Clarion Real Estate Securities (ING Clarion), manager of the ING Wholesale Global Property Securities Fund, has been led to take a more defensive approach, investing mainly in lower leveraged companies with manageable near-term maturities.

Despite negative returns, the fund, which has topped the Property Securities (Global) category, has outperformed the benchmark by 3.4 per cent over the past year and continues to be a top quartile performer in peer group surveys, according to ING Clarion managing director, Ritson Ferguson.

The fund’s investment strategy is focused on real estate investment trusts (REITs) with earnings certainty, balance sheet strength and a strong management team, as opposed to riskier companies such as those with highly leveraged strategies and business models dependent on growth, he said.

“We are attracted to those businesses that are exploiting the current environment to position themselves for future growth.

“There are plenty of companies that are raising capital to take advantage of future M&A activities and position themselves for the next stage of growth when the economy recovers,” Ferguson said.

The finalists in this category were EQT SGH LaSalle and Colonial First State (WS Colliers).

The key differentiation of LaSalle Investment Management from its competitors is that it is a real estate company, not a financial institution, which only manages real estate assets, LaSalle Investment Management director client services Australia David Quirk said.

CFS attributes its achievement to its consistent investment process and strong research focus. “Our recent approach has been absolutely focused on avoiding losing capital until the time comes to take on more risk,” CFS head of property securities Andrew Nicholas said.