As Sovereign Wealth Fund Institute president Michael Maduell put it, "Collaborating among public investors needs to be conducted on a global basis. It is paramount to have a diverse range of public institutional investors who have different opinions, to prevent one-sided moves among investors."

The impetus for more global coordination comes at a time when the growth and power of sovereign wealth funds is very much on the rise. According to the SWF Institute, the appetite for commercial real estate also continues to grow among the funds. As with many institutional investors, the sovereigns are more than ever looking to real estate as an alternative investment to help balance portfolios.

The list of top sovereigns investing in real estate is dominated by familiar Middle Eastern and Asian funds. According to Londonbased researcher Preqin, the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority tops the list with $47 billion invested in real estate, followed by the Qatar Investment Authority, with $25 billion, and the Government of Singapore Investment Corp. with nearly $25 billion.

To be sure, these are sophisticated and experienced investors, and some 85% of sovereigns invest directly in real estate. According to Preqin, average allocations to real estate were 7.5% in 2011, up from 7% in 2010.

The global dialogue is in much demand as sovereigns become larger players and seek to expand their global CRE connections.

As an example, in early May, the Bank of Montreal said it would open an office in Abu Dhabi, as the Canadian lender seeks a strong foothold in the Middle East and access to the region's sovereign wealth funds. The Toronto-based BMO has about $107 billion in global assets under management, and $600 million of that is from clients in the Arab Gulf region. BMO says it wants to grow its share of Middle East assets to between 5% and 10% of the bank's total assets under management in the next five years.

The new ICI joins a number of sovereign initiatives. An International Forum of SWFs was founded in 2009, which meets once a year to exchange views on shared interests. Member countries include Australia, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Botswana, Canada, Chile, China, Equatorial Guinea, Iran, Ireland, South Korea, Kuwait, Libya, Mexico, New Zealand, Norway, Qatar, Russia, Singapore, Timor-Leste, Trinidad & Tobago, the United Arab Emirates and the United States. Presently that group is chaired by Mr. Jin Liqun, chairman of the board of supervisors of the China Investment Corp., which ranks fourth on the list of top sovereigns investing in real estate.

But, importantly, the ICI is more expansive than previous efforts, since it includes major public pension funds and governmental entities.

Other groups are also organizing institutional players. In April, the Council of Institutional Investors elected Anne Sheehan, director of corporate governance at the California State Teachers' Retirement System, as its chairperson. The CII is a nonprofit association of pension funds and other employee benefit funds, endowments and foundations, and is an advocate for transparent corporate governance and strong shareowner rights.

What does it all mean? For US-based owners and financiers, closely monitoring this global connection trend should become a top priority in the months to come.