UBS Starts Sell-Off From Inherited Credit Suisse Real Estate Fund
Close to $180M of assets from a Credit Suisse real estate fund are up for sale.
UBS is selling off assets from one of the largest real estate funds managed by collapsed bank Credit Suisse, with almost £150M ($180M) of buildings on the block.
UBS bought fellow Swiss bank Credit Suisse in March after fears about the latter’s liquidity prompted its share price to collapse.
The asset management divisions of the two banks had a combined $160B (£130B) of real estate assets under management, PERE reported in March, making it the fifth-largest real estate fund manager in the world.
Credit Suisse Asset Management Head of Global Real Estate Rob Rackind left the combined firm in June as part of a shake-up in the division’s management. Now UBS is pruning assets from one of Credit Suisse’s largest funds.
The €3.5B (£3B, $3.7B) Credit Suisse Real Estate Fund International sold one asset in Rotterdam and is selling five more in London, Cardiff, Leeds, Amsterdam and Stuttgart, CoStar reported. It has held talks about selling five more assets in Germany, according to CoStar.
The fund owns 53 properties across the world and mainly invests in offices, which account for 82% of its assets.
In 2022, it produced a negative return of 7%, CoStar reported. Along with funds managed by firms such as Blackstone and BlackRock, the UBS fund has been hit by requests from its investors to get their money back in the face of the real estate sector's declining fortunes.
