Legal & General’s Private Markets Fund has appointed Invesco Real Estate, the £67.2bn global property arm of Invesco, to provide US and Asia real estate exposure.
Launched in July to serve its 5.3 million DC members, the fund is organised as a Fund of Funds and provides a variety of private market alternatives. Invesco is in charge of managing the property assets in the US and Asia Pacific.
Members can purchase direct real estate in established areas, increasing their investment possibilities and possibly lowering risk and increasing returns. Performance is increased by Invesco’s emphasis on sustainable investment since it increases building efficiency and future-proofs assets in a market that is always changing.
Invesco head of UK pensions & EMEA consultant relations Sachin Bhatia says: “Increasing the ease of access to private markets could offer great investment opportunities when looking to drive better outcomes for members of DC pensions schemes. However, despite longstanding demand from DC schemes to invest in global real estate, this asset class has often been the preserve of the largest institutional investors and sovereign wealth funds. L&G shares our belief that DC members deserve the same opportunities.”
Invesco Real Estate managing director, head of DC and wealth Simon Redman says: “With generally low correlation to other asset classes and historically strong performance across market cycles, real estate has long served as a powerful diversifier in mixed-asset portfolios.
“Although real estate investors have historically tended to be domestically focused, we are increasingly seeing demand for international opportunities. The UK comprises less than 5% of global investible real estate, so by investing globally, DC members can benefit from a much wider range of stable income opportunities backed by physical buildings, with significant diversification benefits, risk reduction, and return enhancement.
“Bringing global real estate to Defined Contribution pension members is a strategic priority of Invesco Real Estate. There is no doubt that allocating to global real estate has the potential to significantly improve member outcomes, but it requires focus and innovation to do so. We are very pleased to see this focus and creativity pay off, and we are proud to be selected by L&G as a global real estate manager for its pioneering private markets fund.”
Legal & General head of DC investments Jesal Mistry says: “The L&G Private Markets Access Fund provides DC clients with a single point of access to a diversified portfolio of private market assets, seeking to capture the illiquidity premium in asset classes including private equity, real estate, private credit and infrastructure. We’re delighted to be collaborating with Invesco on the global real estate component of the strategy, which we believe has the potential to act as a valuable source of diversification and performance, all within a structure that can support the operational and liquidity needs of DC schemes.”
