UK-headquartered asset management company Schroders has signed an agreement to acquire a majority stake in Pamfleet, a $1.1 billion real estate private equity company with offices in Singapore, Shanghai, and Hong Kong, according to an announcement.
Financial details of the acquisition were not disclosed.
Schroders said Pamfleet will be renamed Schroder Pamfleet after the transaction is completed. The entire Pamfleet team of 19 professionals will remain with the company, it added.
Pamfleet was formed in 2000 after a management buy-out of Jardine Fleming’s direct property fund management business.
Its investment strategy focuses on obsolete assets in prime commercial districts, upgrading underperforming assets through repositioning and rebranding, and enhancing property returns through proactive building and asset management.
The firm has $1.1 billion of assets under management across four funds, the most recent of which closed in 2019 at $450 million. It raised $400 million in 2015 and some $200 million in 2014.
There will be no changes to the management of the existing Pamfleet funds when the purchase is completed, according to the announcement.
Pamfleet managing directors Allan Lee and Kelvin Wong will continue to lead the teams in Hong Kong, Shanghai and Singapore and will be joined by Canon Yau, who will lead the business’s institutional investor relationships.
“Pamfleet’s strong presence within the Asian real estate market… complements the existing Schroders offering within real estate and private assets to provide extra choice for new and existing investors,” said Duncan Owen, Global Head of Schroder Real Estate.
The acquisition adds to the private assets and real estate capabilities of Schroders, which also recently purchased Munich-based real estate specialist Blue Asset Management and Algonquin, the pan-European real estate hotels firm.
In Southeast Asia, Schroders acquired the wealth management business of Singapore-based Thirdrock Group, which has assets under management of S$3 billion ($2.2 billion), last year.
Schroders currently manages about $663 billion of assets.
The Asian real estate scene is witnessing renewed interest from large private equity players. Among them is global investment powerhouse KKR & Co, which has raised an initial $698 million for its new Asia-focused real estate vehicle.
Blackstone Group, KKR’s US-based rival, also raised $7.1 billion for its Asia-focused real estate fund in 2018 while PAG Real Estate, the realty investment arm of Hong Kong-based alternative investment manager PAG Asia Capital, has secured $2.75 billion for its latest pan-Asia opportunistic real estate fund.
