Allianz Real Estate continues its growth story, reaching 60 bln euros AuM for Allianz companies and launching its first debt fund

The real estate portfolio of Allianz continued to grow in the first half of 2018. Allianz Real Estate, the real estate investment and asset manager of the Allianz Group, expanded its global presence and continued to diversify across direct and indirect equity and debt asset classes reaching 60.1 billion euros in assets under management at the end of June 2018 (56.4 billion euros at the end of 2017).

Direct and indirect equity investments stood at 42.5 billion euros while the financing business of Allianz Real Estate reached 17.6 billion euros, thereof 10.8 billion euros in the U.S. and 6.8 billion euros in Europe.

The last 12 months saw Allianz introduce new strategies like forward purchases in Europe (The Icon in Vienna and Kap West in Munich) and enter new markets like India, London and the Chinese Office market. The business also announced the launch of a Luxembourg regulated platform to satisfy the appetite for debt of smaller Allianz companies alongside external investors.

“We are well on track,” said Francois Trausch, CEO of Allianz Real Estate, at Expo Real 2018. “We passed our 2020 target AuM of 60 billion euros 18 months ahead of schedule, positioning us well for our ambitious growth plans across established and new territories and asset classes. Allianz continues to find real estate an attractive asset class and the launch of our debt fund will further support our aspiration to exceed 100 billion euros over the next five years.”

Strong growth of equity investments

Since the beginning of 2017, new equity investments totalled 7.2 billion euros, with 2.0 billion euros in direct, 2.0 billion euros in joint ventures and 3.2 billion euros in indirect investments. This included the recent addition of forward purchases in Europe and the firm’s entrance into the China office market.

Examples of 2018 investments are the acquisition of ZLink in Beijing, the ATLAS office complex in Munich, the development of Monteburgos office site in Madrid, the Ueberseehaus – a commercial building in Hamburg, the Gangaren 11 office complex in Stockholm and the Chapter Student Housing Platform in London.

The total equity portfolio rose to 42.5 billion euros: 25.9 billion euros in direct, 6.4 billion euros through joint ventures and 10.1 billion euros in indirect investments. Indirect equity accounted for 17 percent of Allianz Real Estate’s portfolio allocation as at the end of June 2018. To support recent growth in Austria and the CEE, the business opened an office in Vienna in March.

“We continue to manage our growth in a selective way,” said Olivier Téran, CIO of Allianz Real Estate. “Our historic strength in the European office sector continues to be the bedrock of our portfolio, but we employ joint ventures and indirect investments to access value add and opportunistic investments across Europe, the U.S. and Asia alongside the direct equity ownership of core properties. Our unconstrained approach allows us to invest for the long term, providing our liability driven clients stable returns across the market cycle.”

 

Allianz-Allianz-Real-Estate-2018-figures

Launch of fund to meet client’s growing appetite for debt

In addition, the firm saw increased activity on the debt side. Since the beginning of 2017 financing grew by 5.1 billion euros – up 2.5 billion euros in the U.S. and 2.6 billion euros in Europe – increasing Allianz Real Estate’s overall debt portfolio to 17.6 billion. European Debt exceeded 6.8 billion euros while the established U.S. debt portfolio amounted to over 10.8 billion euros. Key debt investments in 2018 included UpperWest mixed-use tower in Berlin, the iconic future flagship Apple store on Avenue des Champs-Elysées, Paris, 80 Fenchurch office building in London and 200 Occidental office building in Seattle.

In September, Allianz Real Estate announced the launch of a Luxembourg regulated debt investment platform. Structured to accommodate the growing demand from the Allianz Group for debt investments, the fund will be opened to third party investors in 2019. The first two transactions on the platform were the financing of St Katharine Docks in London and the refinancing of Noventa di Piave in Italy.

“Our debt platform has been developed using the highest industry standards and partners. Our initial focus is on our Allianz clients, especially the smaller companies whose investment size has made it difficult for them to participate in the individual debt deals. From there we plan to offer access to our capability to third parties, providing them with the opportunity to invest in debt alongside Allianz,” said Roland Fuchs, Head of European Debt, Allianz Real Estate.

The Allianz Group is one of the world's leading insurers and asset managers with around 125 million* private and corporate customers in nearly 70 countries. Allianz customers benefit from a broad range of personal and corporate insurance services, ranging from property, life and health insurance to assistance services to credit insurance and global business insurance. Allianz is one of the world’s largest investors, managing around 737 billion euros** on behalf of its insurance customers. Furthermore, our asset managers PIMCO and Allianz Global Investors manage about 1.7 trillion euros** of third-party assets. Thanks to our systematic integration of ecological and social criteria in our business processes and investment decisions, we are among the leaders in the insurance industry in the Dow Jones Sustainability Index. In 2023, over 157,000 employees achieved total business volume of 161.7 billion euros and an operating profit of 14.7 billion euros for the group.
* Including non-consolidated entities with Allianz customers.
** As of December 31, 2023.
Allianz Real Estate is the strategic real estate organization within the Allianz Group and a leading international real estate investment and asset manager. Allianz Real Estate develops and executes worldwide tailored portfolio and investment strategies on behalf of the Allianz companies, considering direct as well as indirect investments and real estate loans. The operational management of investments and assets is currently performed in 5 regions, West Europe (Belgium, France, Italy, Luxemburg, Portugal, Spain), North & Central Europe (Austria, CEE, Germany, Ireland, Nordics), Switzerland, USA and Asia Pacific. The headquarters of Allianz Real Estate are located in Munich and Paris. Allianz Real Estate has approximately 60 billion euros assets under management.
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