The acquisition of Aviva’s direct real estate investment platform, which operates in Australia, Japan and Singapore, will see JP Morgan Asset Management add to its “existing Asia real estate presence” in India and China.
“Growing in Asia Pacific has been a strategic imperative for us as a global real assets solutions provider,” JP Morgan Asset management head of global real assets Joe Azelby said.
“With this acquisition, we have expanded our real estate investment capabilities, across the full risk spectrum from core to opportunistic strategies, to help our clients increase their allocations to dynamic growth markets in Asia Pacific,” Mr Azelby said.
JP Morgan Asset Management head of real estate Asia, global real assets, David Chen said the region presents an “enormous investment opportunity” for its clients.
“We have accelerated the expansion of our geographic footprint into key real estate markets and added high quality personnel on the ground, with extensive market expertise and deep local relationships,” Mr Chen said.
JP Morgan Asset Management also said its 400-member global real assets team will be bolstered with the addition of the current Aviva Asia Pacific real estate team.
“The combined Asia team comprises nearly 50 real estate professionals operating from five offices throughout Asia Pacific – Hong Kong, Mumbai, Singapore, Shanghai and Sydney. A sixth office in the region, in Tokyo, is scheduled to open in early 2015,” a statement from JP Morgan said.
