London / Melbourne, 21 June 2007 – LaSalle Investment Management (“LaSalle”) today announced that its Australian operations have nearly doubled assets under management over the last twelve months, currently managing more than A$2 billion in global property securities across Australia and New Zealand.
Securitisation trends continue around the globe, with increasingly more investors looking to real estate securities vehicles due to strong risk-adjusted returns and the added liquidity real estate stocks offer. With less than 10% of institutional global real estate securitised today, all signs point toward ample growth opportunities for the sector.
Underscoring this trend is data from the latest Mercer Performance Survey to 30 April 2007, showing the firm’s EQT SGH LaSalle Global Listed Property Securities Trust, a collaboration between SG Hiscock & Co. and LaSalle providing access to global real estate securities for Australian investors, has returned 33.5 percent per annum over the last three years (gross of fees), which is over three percent per annum ahead of benchmark (UBS Global Investors Index). LaSalle currently manage more than USD$10 billion in property securities, with around half in global mandates. Australian and New Zealand clients account for nearly USD$2 billion.
David Quirk, LaSalle’s Head of Client Services in Melbourne, said: “We remain committed to providing the highest quality products and services to our investors, and we appreciate their continued support. We are well positioned to offer strong performance on an absolute and relative basis over the medium term due to strong fundamentals and attractive relative values in those markets where we currently are overweighted. Due to strong macro factors and trends in fundamental recovery, securitisation growth and direct market investor demand, we believe the property securities markets are well positioned for strong returns going forward.”
In recognition of LaSalle’s global listed property capabilities, the company was recently honoured as ‘Fund Manager of the Year’ by Money Management at the publication’s annual awards ceremony in Sydney.
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About LaSalle Investment Management
LaSalle Investment Management, Inc., a member of the Jones Lang LaSalle group (NYSE: JLL), is a leading global real estate investment manager, with approximately $44 billion of assets under management. LaSalle Investment Management is active across a range of real estate capital and operating markets including private and public, debt and equity. LaSalle Investment Management is authorised and regulated for investment business in the UK by the Financial Services Authority.