The chief executive of Chicago-based real estate investment management firm, Heitman, Maury R Tognarelli, may be only vaguely aware of Australians’ obsession with real estate, but he is acutely aware of the potential which exists in Australia for his company.
Heitman is a real estate specialist and Tognarelli and his team have been looking to make Australian investors, including superannuation funds, aware of its specialist capabilities across both listed and unlisted property built up over a 50-year lifespan.
Heitman has had a presence in Australia since 2010 when it opened an office in Melbourne to focus on listed securities; the firm has relied on partnerships with firms like Abacus Property and Dexus for its unlisted investing in Australia.
Speaking to Money Management during a visit to Sydney last week, Tognarelli confirmed that the company was moving towards the end of a 15-month exit strategy with respect to its unlisted Australian office portfolio before moving into an accumulation phase again.
And as the company goes through the process of adding to its unlisted portfolio, it will be doing so on the basis of a methodology which saw it successfully weather the worst of the global financial crisis. Discussing how the unlisted strategies work, Tognarelli pointed to the value of the company’s research and testing and the manner in which this had given rise to allocations to both defensive assets such as self-storage, over 50’s accommodation and more growth-oriented property investments.
Complementing the firm’s rich history in unlisted property markets, Heitman’s Global Prime Strategy was created to provide investors access to a liquid real estate securities portfolio consisting of shares of public companies that own top-tier properties in the world’s dominant cities.
The company states this unique strategy offers investors focused exposure to a diverse portfolio of prime property in prime markets that would otherwise be difficult to achieve via direct ownership, with the objective being to target a total return that exceeds direct private investment performance over a period of five to 10 years.
Mr. Tognarelli suggested the strategy had gained the attention of superannuation funds with MySuper options because it provided them with a proxy for a global property portfolio.
“Our sole focus is on real estate and how we can invest in it, and that is all we do,” Tognarelli said.
