AustralianSuper

The Australian wealth manager and superfund provider sees potential opportunities to expand its all-Australian property book in markets such as European industrial.

With a divestment to AustralianSuper, the Canadian pension investor is executing a long-term plan to achieve scale in European logistics.

With its new merger, the Melbourne-based infrastructure firm hopes to grow and globalize property fund manager IFM’s unlisted platform.

Amid a stalled private real estate marketplace, institutional investors at the PERE Network Europe Forum contemplated how now could be a good time to buy large office and retail properties.

AustralianSuper’s merger of its infrastructure and real estate teams reflects a convergence of the two asset classes that is becoming increasingly uncomfortable for managers.

The investor sees ‘a blurring of investment opportunity classification across the two asset classes,’ says head of mid-risk Jason Peasley.