Morgan Stanley Real Estate Investing’s (MSREI) maiden core property fund in Asia has received between $150 million and $200 million from Copenhagen-based PFA Pension, Denmark’s largest commercial pension fund, PERE has learnt.
The real estate investment management business of the New York-based investment bank Morgan Stanley is understood to be currently in fundraising mode for the open-ended vehicle that came to market early last year.
Although there is no specific target for the fund, the firm expects to attract between $500 million and $1 billion for the vehicle. Capital raised for the fund is likely to be deployed in Australia, Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore and the Chinese cities of Shanghai and Beijing.
PFA Pension’s commitment to an Asia-focused fund is an indication of the institution’s growing appetite for foreign property investments. In a prior interview with Investment Pensions Europe, Michael Bruhn, director at PFA Real Estate – manager of the pension fund’s property investments – said the pension plan had previously been cautious to invest in Asia but said it will be targeting more investments in the region going forward.
PFA typically invests indirectly via funds in foreign properties. Its total property investments, domestic and international combined, totaled DKK 31.6 billion (€4.2 billion; $4.6 billion) as of June 2015, according to information available on its website.
MSREI declined to comment on the story.
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