Pimco to take over Allianz Real Estate

Income investment manager Pimco is to take over the real estate division of its parent Allianz Group, creating an entity with more than $100bn (£87bn) in real estate AUM. When the proposed deal completes, Pimco will become one of the world’s largest real estate investment managers. Under the deal, Allianz Real Estate will become a core component of Pimco’s private strategies platform, supporting its existing opportunistic real estate equity and private lending strategy. Allianz Real Estate, the property investment arm of Allianz and its major insurance subsidiaries, focuses mainly on the Europe, US and Asia-Pacific markets. Its 440 employees underwrite and manage a property portfolio of more than €70bn, the majority of which represents investments in core and core-plus real estate equity. It also provides private real estate lending. Emmanuel Roman, chief executive of Pimco, said: “Real estate has been, and will continue to be, central to the development of our private strategies platform, which we consider essential to providing our clients with alternative approaches to achieving their long-term investment objectives. “By incorporating Allianz Real Estate into Pimco’s existing suite of private solutions, we intend to significantly enhance our capabilities in an area that has become a critical component of our clients’ portfolios.” Jackie Hunt, board member at Allianz SE, said: “Bringing two high-performing, complementary specialist parts of the business together puts us in a position to provide customers a more comprehensive solution in real estate capabilities and strengthens our position in alternatives, where we are already among the top 10 global players.” To send feedback, e-mail pui-guan.man@egi.co.uk or tweet @PuiGuanM or @estatesgazette