Christie Ou
With a goal to replicate its platforms in the US and Europe, the firm seeks to raise more than $200m for its first Asia vehicle.
The Korean insurer’s $1bn commitment will initially be allocated to three of the firm’s Asian and European real estate funds.
The Singapore-based manager’s incoming C-REIT will offer a conduit for international managers wanting access to Chinese capital.
The Australian firm previously invested its own balance sheet capital in the higher-risk, higher-return strategy for more than 10 years.
The real estate veteran, who spent 17 years at the Australian firm, was heavily involved in building its China retail business.
With a total of five retail assets in the country, the Macquarie-managed portfolio has been in the market since the beginning of last year.
Even the most dominant in the ranking are seeing a drop in aggregate growth.
The Sydney-based real estate fund manager will provide equity for the acquisition of seed assets and bring in co-investment capital from its investors.
The Middle Eastern sovereign wealth fund is left with no permanent global head of real estate or regional heads of real estate.
As sellers' expectations become more realistic, the asking price for retail assets has come down as much as 30% in the country since June 2020.