CGI's Fund Manager Arnold de Haan told the British Council for Offices annual conference in Berlin: 'The Americans are not cowed by recession, while European funds are overloaded with property because of the equities crash,' he says.
The fund represents a new departure for CGI, which until now has operated as an open-ended fund designed for private investors. It will provide an international spread for investors, and de Haan told a BCO workshop he is targeting France, Portugal, Italy and Spain.
CGI was the first German fund to invest abroad and now has euro 3.8 billion ($3.3 billion) of assets outside Germany, concentrated mainly in development. Three sites have also been taken in Berlin as German spending revives. But while the UK remains second only to Germany with 18% of assets, no new funds have been allocated to UK property because of the Government's refusal to join the euro.
The UK is the only country where currency hedging is necessary, and this knocks almost 2.5% off returns. 'If you don't sort out the euro, we are gone,' says de Haan, only half joking.
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