Nuveen Real Estate raises a further $213.5 million for its Asia Pacific Cities strategy

Nuveen Real Estate, one of the world’s largest investment managers, has raised a further $213.5 million for its Asia Pacific Cities strategy, from four Dutch and Swiss investors. 

In total, the platform has raised over $900 million from twelve investors since its inception in November 2018. This latest commitment signals continued interest in the open-ended strategy from European investors, with c. $680 million raised from European investors so far. 

The platform’s current allocation stands at 64% to logistics, 18% to residential and 18% to office assets across four vibrant Asian cities. 

Most recently, the strategy’s inaugural office asset, 183-185 Clarence Street in Sydney, Australia marked its successful practical completion. Having undergone substantial restoration and refurbishment, this heritage development provides c.7,900 sq m (c.85,000 sq ft) of commercial space across 12 floors and is designed to meet various ESG benchmarks. 

Louise Kavanagh, Managing Director Asia Pacific, at Nuveen Real Estate, said: “It has been heartening to witness continued investor interest, as well as the growth and strong investment performance of this flagship strategy in the last few years since its inception. With this latest commitment, we are in a strong position to look for assets offering income generation and stable distributable income, anchored on long-term structural growth.”

Gabi Stein, Managing Director, Senior Real Estate Specialist, at Nuveen Real Estate, commented: “European investors continue to see robust opportunities in the Asia Pacific market, which is highlighted by their continued commitment into our flagship strategy there. Despite the headwinds from the pandemic, investors have continued to be attracted to the region, due to the strong demographics and diversification benefits. We anticipate that the demand for core strategies in Asia Pacific will only increase over the coming years.” 

Nuveen Real Estate’s latest perspectives report point to ongoing strong occupier demand for modern logistics space in Asia Pacific, driven by e-commerce and the demand for fresh groceries driving the cold storage sector. The research also highlights a number of strong office markets across the region, including Sydney, Singapore and Seoul, that it believes are well positioned for long-term growth despite headwinds presented by the pandemic. 

The strategy is looking at opportunities in the office sector again.

“The current investment climate continues to provide attractive entry points into the deep and liquid office sector across some resilient gateway cities backed by positive long-term fundamentals. The acceleration in structural trends brought about by the pandemic has even improved the corporate balance sheet performance of some financial, insurance, real estate services and tech-related sectors, in turn positioning high quality, prime located offices in markets such as Singapore, Seoul and Sydney for a sturdy recovery,” added Kavanagh.

About the Asia Pacific Cities strategy

The Asia Pacific Cities strategy forms part of Nuveen Real Estate’s global resilient series, which manages over US$5 billion of assets in over 35 leading resilient cities globally. 

It focuses on investing in high-quality assets in ‘future-proof’ cities that are well-positioned in terms of long-term structural trends, including demographic change, urbanisation and technology, and aims to deliver attractive, risk-adjusted returns to investors in doing so.

As part of this series, the firm also manages a European strategy, as well as four sector-specific strategies in the U.S. which are all underpinned by the same cities-focused approach.