Robin Marriott

The Employees Provident Fund (EPF) of Malaysia, plans to expand real estate investing in Continental Europe, the US, Japan and China and is planning to open an office in London.

According to a study presented at the annual Pension Real Estate Association conference, institutions are indicating an intention to increase their average target allocation to RE over the next year and are increasingly focused on higher return value-add and opportunistic strategies. Yet, they are investing at a slower pace compared to very recent years.

The New York-based asset management giant BlackRock is preparing the launch of its first opportunistic real estate fund since taking over MGPA in October 2013.

The real estate arm of OMERS has acquired an office property in Paris from The Carlyle Group for €263 million

The New York-based bank and other investors are poised to invest in the 1.3 million square foot South Towne regional mall in Sandy, Utah.

The French asset manager is aiming to assemble up to £500 million of assets for the core-plus vehicle, using specialist retail expert, Realm, to help add value.

Gena Cheng has joined as a managing director in the global investors group of USAA Real Estate Company (USAA), the $12 billion real estate investment manager arm of the United Services Automobile Association

Kildare Partners, the new $2 billion private equity real estate firm of Ellis Short, has hired a new partner in its London HQ to boost its European acquisitions program.

Zeynep Fetvaci started this week at the London office of the New York-based advisory firm as it looks to boost its coverage in Europe

Nick Cooper, a senior member of The Townsend Group that helped grow the business in both Europe and Asia, has left the company to become deputy chairman of London-based Palmer Capital.