News & Analysis

The private equity real estate arm of Jones Lang LaSalle is reportedly eyeing property bargains in Japan, China and Australia, after raising $3bn for its latest fund. People familiar with the matter told PERE, the fund has 80% capital left to invest.

Department store Mervyns, bought in 2004 by Lubert-Adler, Cerberus and Sun Capital for $1.2bn, will liquidate after filing for bankruptcy protection in July. Mervyns blamed the decision by its private equity-backers to separate its real estate assets from the operating company as the reason for the failure.

The Dutch bank, which owns ING Real Estate Investment Management, one of the largest property managers in the world, has taken a €10 billion ($25 billion) buffer from the Netherlands' government to steer it through the financial crisis.

The director of private equity for London-based fund of funds manager SVG Advisers says new funds are unlikely to go to market until 2010, yet firms now fundraising still have sources of capital. He also thinks the current environment making large deals difficult to execute will change in two to three years.

Firm CEO Robert Brunswick tells PERE market conditions had ‘accelerated’ its focus on being a principal investment business.

The vehicle would allow the Australian property fund manager to take a 50% stake in two development projects in Hong Kong. Goodman CEO, Gregory Goodman, said the vehicle was the largest of its kind in the country.

The auction for Lehman's Neuberger Berman and units including private equity fund of funds and secondaries, as well as infrastructure, will proceed despite objections from Carlyle over a $2.15bn bid from Bain and Hellman & Friedman.

Three large deals that have recently fallen apart show private equity activity in Asia is not immune to the global financial crisis, writes Siddharth Poddar.

The CEO of London-based placement agent MVision says mega-funds may struggle to get commitments next year and must prepare for longer fundraises. He also finds LPs are now allocating up to 20 percent of their private equity programmes to growth-oriented emerging markets.