Standard Life Investments, one of the largest property fund managers in Europe, announced on May 1 that it has made its first direct investment in the Asia-Pacific property market with the acquisition of a property in Perth, Australia, for A$47 million ($38.9 million).

The Association of Real Estate Funds, the representative body for unlisted commercial real estate funds, announced on April 2 the continued expansion of its membership with the addition of four new funds.

Deutsche Börse announced in May that it would launch an index covering real estate investment trusts.

Middle East thrives on new rules of the game

New Star is launching a new international property fund and says it is the first of its kind in the UK.

Unibail’s takeover of Rodamco has sparked off a round of merger speculation in the property sector.

The European Commission has decided to set up an expert group to advise it on open-ended real estate funds. The group will advise the EC on how to improve the European market for these funds and on whether EU-level action in this area would deliver benefits for industry and investors, the EC said in a statement.

A new Nordic real estate adviser, Glitnir Property Holding, has ambitious plans to grow beyond the Nordic region into northern Europe.

Low correlations to financial assets and high liquidity continue to attract institutional funds and private wealth into real estate.

The Association of Real Estate Funds announced on March 20 the launch of the 2007 Aref Code of Practice to govern the £40 billion, in 60 funds, that its members manage. The code was officially launched to its members on March 22.

The UK Reits industry is striving to get out of first gear, five months after hearing the starter’s gun.

Credit Suisse is launching a $2.5 billion fund for investment in property. It joins an already extensive list of private equity funds raising cash for the sector. These include Morgan Stanley’s $8 billion fund and private equity fund Blackstone Group’s $10 billion fund. The bank started to market the fund at the end of April and intends to use it for investment globally as it attempts to tap growing investor appetite for geographical diversification in property investment.

Joe Valente, head of research, DTZ.

Alex Moss, AME Capital.

Tata Group, which joined with private equity firm Xander Group through its group company Trent in April, has outlined plans to raise $1 billion for an institutional retail real estate fund.

by John Davy, senior ABS analyst, Fidelity International.

Although Reits remain a favoured capital-raising tool for Asian property businesses, especially in developed markets, high-yield debt issuance, particularly for China property plays, is gaining increasing popularity among developers as a strong Chinese equity market fuels investor appetite for the sector.

It is one of the giant global industries, right up there with food and healthcare; it provides the collateral for a high proportion of loans in the world banking system and for growing volumes of securities, but it remains obstinately driven by local factors of supply and demand.

The hospitals backing GHG Healthcare’s Theatre (Hospitals) transaction, launched last month, should be familiar to the ABS market by now. This is the third time they have been securitized.

"Islamic finance has only popped up onto people’s radar screens in the West in the last five years or so," says Jeremy Beswick, head of asset management at European Islamic Investment Bank (EIIB). Despite its youth, though, Islamic financing is spreading around the globe and in recent months there has been a rapid increase in the range of real-estate-related products that banks have to offer.

Francois Pochard, 58, is the new chief executive of Ixis AEW Europe, the pan-European real estate investment manager of Ixis asset management group in Paris. This was an internal move. Pochard was previously senior managing director in charge of French activities.

JPMorgan is beefing up its European real estate structured finance business with several new hires.

GE grows into the world’s biggest landlord

Nanette real estate group has appointed Gerald Neil Parkes as non-executive director.

by Stuart Nelson, credit analyst, Standard & Poor’s .

Since the turn of the decade the region’s property market has seen spectacular growth. Now the infrastructure is catching up, giving entrepreneurs greater confidence in the market’s long-term health. Nigel Dudley reports.

Investors are hungry for property exposure and for equity-linked paper. The result? Real estate convertibles are in huge demand. Europe and Asia are on a high while a new market has also sprung up from the Middle East. Laurence Neville reports.

Reits and other areas of Greek property finance are likely to grow strongly if restrictive regulations are liberalized. Dimitris Kontogiannis reports.

Andrew Vaughan joined the board and became chief operating officer (COO) of Redevco Europe on June 1. He leaves his old role of managing director of Redevco UK and Nordics and succeeds Jan Dalmeijer, who will retire on September 1 but will retain a part-time role. Vaughan will be in charge of the strategic direction of a number of national organizations under the Redevco Europe title.

Morgan Stanley’s former head of securitization, Craig Phillips, re-emerged in March as the chairman, CEO and founder of a new alternative asset management firm called Ptarmigan Capital.