Nuveen Partners with Commonwealth Private in Launching its First Australian Real Estate Strategy for Private Wealth Clients

Nuveen, one of the largest global asset managers with over $US1.1 trillion assets under management*, has launched its first Australian unit trust strategy for local private wealth clients - the Nuveen Global Cities Real Estate strategy.

To launch the strategy in Australia, Nuveen has partnered with Commonwealth Private as an anchor investor, with CBA seeding the vehicle.

The strategy will form part of the real estate portion of Commonwealth Private’s model portfolios for its private wealth clients and will be made available to other private investors in Australia with a minimum investment of $AU100,000.

Andrew Kleinig, Nuveen Managing Director, Head of Australia said: 

“We are extremely pleased with our partnership with Commonwealth Private and they have been great to work with on our first Australian unit trust. 

“Over the past few years, we have made excellent progress establishing the Nuveen brand in Australia, particularly within real estate, real assets, and impact investing. We look forward to bringing our institutional-grade investment strategies to private investors across Australia.”

The vehicle is the Australian feeder into the Nuveen Global Cities REIT which invests in private commercial property in North America, Asia Pacific, and Europe across top performing sectors including industrial, built-to-rent housing, and healthcare, such as medical offices and life science facilities. The underlying strategy is structured as a perpetual life, non-traded real estate investment trust, with US$300m of our own capital invested alongside clients.

The primary objectives of the Nuveen Global Cities REIT are to achieve current income, diversification, and long-term capital appreciation with assets in the top 2% of global cities that are well positioned for structural growth. 

The Nuveen Global Cities REIT has an innovative fee structure with no performance fees. As of February 2023, the portfolio included 495 properties with total assets valued at $US2.83 billion, a leverage ratio of 15.85%, and 98% occupancy rate. 

Commercial real estate continues to thrive

Nuveen recently released its third EQuilibrium Global Institutional Investor Survey which revealed that professional investors are rethinking their portfolio strategies in response to changing market conditions, with a focus on managing inflation risk, investing in private markets, and seeking alternative investment options, including real estate.  

“Real estate has traditionally offered investors a higher level of income, strong total returns, and lower volatility than many other asset classes, particularly in inflationary environments. With this in mind, we are confident that the industrial, housing, and healthcare parts of the real estate sector will continue to thrive,” Mr. Kleinig said. 

Nuveen is the fifth largest real estate investment manager globally  with sector specialists and vast expertise in property markets.