These 5 Funds Have Over $10B In US Real Estate
Sovereign wealth funds spent over $22.6B on US real estate from January to November 2015—up from $9.8B the year before. Volatility in the oil markets have forced funds to look elsewhere for returns, leading to a big uptick in real estate activity from these giant funds, the Real Deal reports.
With over $9.5B in New York real estate holdings alone, here are the top five SWFs looking to milk the real estate cash cow in 2016.
1. Norway, Norges Bank Investment Management
Total Assets Under Management: $860B
Assets in NYC: $4.37B
CEO: Yngve Slyngstad
Until 2010, Norway's fund—the biggest in the world—couldn't put any cash in real estate. Since then, the country's fund has thrown down huge amounts of cash (nearly $4.5B in NYC alone), becoming the biggest investor of US real estate outside North America. After a massive $32B loss in Q3'15—its biggest in four years—the fund decided to up its real estate activities, producing a mild turnaround to end the year.
2. Abu Dhabi Investment Authority
Total Assets Under Management: $773B
Assets in NYC: $850M
CEO: Hamed Bin Zayed Al Nahan
The largest SWF in the Middle East, this fund aims to have up to 10% of its assets in real estate. It snagged a 1.1M SF office building at the Time Warner Center in New York with Related Cos and Singapore’s SWF in 2014. This fund is so big, its subsidiaries have billions: the Abu Dhabi Investment Council (a spinoff) is worth $110B, and bought a stake in New York's Chrysler Building from Tishman Speyer for $888M.
3. Kuwait Investment Authority
Total Assets Under Management: $592B
Assets in NYC: $485M
CEO: Ba'der Mohammed Al-Sa'ad
Kuwait's fund is the world's oldest, coming on the scene in 1953. The fund bought a stake in Related Cos' Hudson Yards project in 2013, and snagged 750 Seventh Avenue in NYC from Hines for $485M in 2011, building up quite the Manhattan portfolio. Still, none of it quite matches the design for its swirling new HQ (pictured).
4. Government of Singapore Investment Corporation
Total Assets Under Management: $344B
Assets in NYC: Unknown
President: Goh Kok Haut
Even though the fund lost $100M in equity and $575M in mezzanine debt on its investment in Tishman Speyer's default on $5.4B Stuyvesant Town-Peter Cooper Village, the fund hasn't lost its appetite for US real estate. In fact, it wants to bring its real estate investment activity to 13% from the current 7%.
5. Qatar Investment Authority
Total Assets Under Management: $256B
Assets in NYC: $3.78B
CEO: Abdullah Bin Mohammed al-Thani (pictured)
Qatar's wealth fund was built on the back of the "black gold" that runs under the oil rich state's sands. It now wants to throw some of that cash ($35B, to be exact) into US investments. And the fund is putting its money where its mouth is, picking up a 44% stake in Brookfield's mammoth $8.6B Manhattan West project in October. [TRD]
