Principal launches global property fund
Australian fund manager Principal Global Investors (Australia) will make its first foray into the global real estate market with the launch of the Principal Global Property Securities Fund.
The fund will primarily invest in a global portfolio of listed securities that are engaged in the real estate industry and will be managed through a combination of regional teams in North America, Europe and Asia Pacific.
The fund is actively managed against the FTSE-EPRA-NAREIT Global Real Estate Index.
It will be made available through the BT and Macquarie Wrap platforms as well as the institutional market. While only just launched, Principal Global Investors Australia’s next step will be to get the fund researched and rated so it can be included on the platforms.
Principal Global Investors Australia chief executive officer and head of international offices Grant Forster believes the fund’s launch is a natural extension of the group’s current product offering in Australia.
“International listed property is rapidly evolving as an asset class and we see enormous value in bringing our expertise managing global real estate assets to Australian investors,” Forster said.
“The Principal Global Property Securities Fund brings together exceptional teams from within the group. Our US real estate team currently has US$38.6 billion in real estate assets under management and over six decades of real estate investment experience. Complementing this is our award winning Australian team, which manages the Principal Property Securities Fund.
“We have a strong track record and deep capability in managing property securities that have consistently delivered, on average, returns in excess of the applicable property securities indices,” he said.
The Principal Property Securities Fund invests primarily in Australian listed property securities. The fund is actively managed against the S&P/ASX 300 Property Accumulation Index.
A member of the Fortune 500, the Principal Financial Group has US$256.9 billion in assets under management and serves around16.4 million customers worldwide from offices in Asia, Australia, Europe, Latin America and the United States.
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