Ranking based on 2017 European real estate AUM volumes

PropertyEU has been providing rankings and analysis of the Top real estate investors in Europe for several years.

The latest ranking is based on a survey sent to 300 companies over the summer and additional desk research. We have also drawn on rankings by transaction volumes, published in March 2016 and 2017. Combing the data from these sources has resulted in a ranking of 250 companies by AUM at end-2016. This information, plus company profiles have been added to the website, www.top100Investors.info

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The print publication focuses on the Top 100 players with the largest real estate portfolios. The aggregate AUM volume amounts to €1.4 tln. It's an impressive figure though there is an element of double counting, as owners and managers include the same assets in their figures.

More importantly, the Top100 Investors series, starting with two AUM rankings publications in 2013, tracks the development of the most active investors and managers in Europe over the last four years.

Previous publications are available to subscribers here

The latest edition features 60 companies rising in ranking compared to the previous ranking based on 2015 AUM.

Winners

Swiss Life Asset Management and AXA Investment Management – Real Assets saw respectable percentage increases of 8.4% and 7.2% as they secured the first and second place in the ranking for the third consecutive year. Numbers three to six in the ranking – Unibail-Rodamco, Credit Suisse AM and Deka Immobilien – registered increases of over 30%.

The strongest growth, however, took place in the mid to lower end of the Top100. French investment managers Primonial REIM and Amundi both recorded 60-plus percent increases. Listed companies, Merlin Properties, Castellum and Aroundtown Properties, also chalked up 60% increases in AUM through a mix of direct acquisitions and M&A.

Listed property companies

For the first time in the Top100 ranking, listed property emerges as the investor type with the largest AUM volume, with managers linked to insurance companies a close second.

The overall growth in the AUM ranking reflects how both institutional and private capital sources are increasingly having to innovate and expand in real estate to generate higher returns to compensate for lower-yielding investments in other asset classes. Swiss Life AM has added a UK manager and a German fund originator to its platform and moved into logistics.

AXA IMRA, already active in all major sectors and markets, raised a record amount of capital in 2016 and is expanding Baytree, a speculative logistics developer. Primonial is building up an institutional-grade pan-European nursing home portfolio, while Amundi has brought new Korean capital into European real estate. Fund manager CBRE Global Investors is another player adding mandates from Korean and other non-European investors.

Cormac Mac Ruairi
Editor, Top100 Investors

If you would like your company to be included in our Top100 Investors database, please let us know by emailing surveys@propertyeu.info