Andrea Carpenter, Inrev

Land Securities’ announcement that it will split into three sector-focused specialist companies is unlikely to signal the demise of generalist UK Reits. Other large Reits, such as Hammerson and British Land, have indicated that they will not pursue the specialist route. However, now that their share prices have come under significant pressure, many UK Reits will have to reconsider their structures and strategies, making Land Securities an interesting market test case.

Fitch Ratings has rethought its methodology for rating and reviewing real estate asset managers. The original real estate asset manager methodology was based closely on Fitch’s general asset manager methodology, and this was also changed, in May 2007.

London-based Rutley Capital Management, the real estate private equity arm of Knight Frank, is preparing a fund focused on east Africa. The Rutley East Africa fund will aim to raise $200 million to invest in city-centre properties in the capital cities of Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Malawi, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Zambia, Botswana, Namibia, Mauritius and South Africa. The fund will formally launch by the end of this year.

Guy Ratcliffe, executive director, Morgan Stanley

Cash-rich Gulf-based funds are ploughing billions of dollars into real estate in the fast-growing economies of India and China, lured by eager regional and municipal governments and the promise of double-digit annual returns. The economies of China and India are growing at an annual rate of about 12%. US investment bank Merrill Lynch expects India’s property sector to expand to $90 billion by 2015 from $15 billion in 2005.

India’s real estate sector is simultaneously huge and underdeveloped. Much-needed capital is flooding in from domestic and foreign sources, yet many building plans are still prospective rather than under way while sector-focused financial instruments, including Reits, are absent or at a rudimentary stage of development. Elliot Wilson reports.

Wachovia Securities has appointed four managing directors to run its new integrated real estate platform.

The Chinese property market is booming, even when the pace of land release is restricted. But concerns about policy and that some developers’ stocks might be overvalued have injected some caution into the market. Chris Wright reports.

The European residential mortgage-backed securitization market has all but disappeared, and no one knows what the landscape will look like when investors and issuers return in January.

Meinl European Land (MEL), Austria’s second-largest real estate company by market capitalization, is under investigation by its local regulator, the Financial Market Authority (FMA).

Big changes are coming to the UK real estate market as the government seeks to pass the planning reform bill which is aimed, in part, at streamlining and improving the planning process. If passed, the bill will introduce a single consents regime for big infrastructure projects, create an independent infrastructure planning commission and institute further initiatives to improve the town and country planning system. Now in its first reading in the House of Commons, the proposed legislation could bring the most significant changes to planning in the UK since the end of the Second World War.

Aberdeen Property Investors has teamed up with Swedish insurer Folksam to create a pooled fund structure open only to companies within the Folksam Group. Aberdeen plans to roll out this new type of instrument for indirect property investments to other large multinational companies with separate pension plans.

Prupim, the UK-based real estate investment arm of M&G, has taken steps to further its sustainability efforts. The manager has teamed up with Royal & SunAlliance to provide Energy Performance Certificates (EPCs) for Prupim’s entire property portfolio, thought to be an industry first.

Europe’s retailers are between a rock and a hard place. Activist investors are pushing them to separate their vast property assets and realize value in the short term when the evidence suggests companies that continue to hold the freehold to their properties get higher returns in the long term. But UK supermarket group J Sainsbury could have found a solution for retailers in a joint venture with UK real estate company Land Securities – Harvest Partnership – announced in November.

German residential properties have fallen out of favour with some of the big-name US private equity investors. Is their withdrawal a signal of market decline or is there still value to be had? Duncan Wood reports.

Roger Blundell is the new finance director at Grosvenor Britain & Ireland, the UK arm of the international property group, which has £11 billion ($22.7 billion) of assets under management.

Martin McGuire is joining Axa Real Estate Investment Managers as European fund manager in London.

Morley Fund Management is reorganizing its UK property team and has promoted Philip Nell as new lead manager for two leading retail funds.

Monte Koch is the new global head of real estate investment banking at Deutsche Bank. The former mergers and acquisitions head replaces Devin Murphy, who is leaving to pursue other interests, although he will continue to act as an adviser to the real estate business.

Leading Gulf-based real estate companies look set to benefit from the surging global demand for regional property-related securities, with many set to launch local and overseas initial public offerings over the coming months.

Local banks have finally started to take the mortgage market seriously. After decades of high interest rates that made residential lending impossible, they are slowly branching out into what could be an enormous market. Chloe Hayward reports on the challenges.

The Gherkin (30 St Mary Axe), a landmark building in the City of London, has been sold to German high-net-worth and private clients through IVG Immobilien’s closed-end fund, EuroSelect 14.

AIG Global Real Estate is one of the largest and most prolific investors in emerging markets. Now that Brazil, Russia, India and China are the focus of almost every big investor and developer, the US-based firm is far ahead of the pack. The group’s president, Kevin Fitzpatrick, speaks to Rachel Wolcott about AIG’s history in emerging markets and why enthusiasm for these markets might be overdone.

Jones Lang LaSalle thrives on size & sustainability

Jones Lang LaSalle, this year's winner of the Euromoney/Liquid real estate poll, is expanding with the global real estate markets. CEO Colin Dyer explains why a local feeling is important in a global market, and why sustainability makes business sense.

The emerging global asset class • Anatomy of a deal • Maturity brings sophistication • Start at the exit • Credit rules • New markets, proven approaches • Five years leading from the front

Despite growing volumes of ABS derivative trading in the US, repeated attempts to introduce index derivative products to more effectively express nuanced views on ABS credit spreads in Europe have had mixed results.

National Bank of Kuwait is a leading force in raising capital using Shariah-compliant instruments for property development in its domestic market and in the region. Nigel Dudley reports.

ING Real Estate Investment Management makes a point of co-investing with its clients in its funds, particularly in those appealing to value-added and opportunistic investors, an area it is developing. Laurence Neville reports.