I have noticed an increase in threads asking questions about real estate in non-US countries, whether they be Canada or various places in Europe and I thought it would be interesting to crowdsource a list of the best, brightest, biggest, or most innovative firms world-wide. Most of us - especially the old heads - are US-based, so it would also be good to build a resource for those who aren't.
Everyone in America knows Hines, Blackstone, and CBRE. Which companies are worthy of mention in other countries?
In the Aussie market, your big players are the A-REITs, (Charter Hall, Goodman, Dexus)
Fund Management, Development, JV Mandates and Construction. They're doing the lot and smashing it out of the park
I though Australia was just one giant desert surrounded by saltwater crocodiles, 20 ft great white sharks, and the most amount of species of venomous snakes and spiders that have ever existed. Maybe having roaches in NYC isn't as bad I think?
Some of Europe's main players. I'm sure many are missing, but it's a start:
UK Aberdeen British Land Grosvenor Landsec M&G Schroders
France Amundi Altarea Cogedim Aviva BNP Reim Bouygues Immobilier Covivio EDF Invest Gecina Unibail-Rodamco
Germany AIK Aroundtown CommerzReal Corestate Deka Imobilien GLL MEAG KanAm Grund Patrizia Real I.S. Union Investment
Switzerland Credit Suisse Edmond de Rothschild REIM SwissLife UBP UBS
Not to troll too hard on Gecina, but a friend of mine, pointed out this jewel from their Wiki page - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gecina
"As of 2010 Gecina is reducing its interest in some business lines such as warehouses because of their limited market growth potential."
Granted that quote is outdated, but still serves as a great laugh.
Also, Unibail-Romdaco acquired Westfield, so their U.S. operations are basically ran from the latter.
Fortunately it was only around 5% of the portfolio and pretty ordinary kit. Gecina was a bit of a mess back then with court cases against management.
Covivo (Previously FDR) also sold their logistics portfolio in a few tranches in 2014 - far poorer timed sale.
Other companies to note in Europe
Norway - Entra Sweden - Fabege, Balder, Castellum Germany - Vonovia, Deutsche Wohnen, LEG (all resi) Spain/France - Colonial Spain - Merlin Industrial/logistics - Segro, VGP, Panattoni
There is a lot of capital with pension funds in EMEA so funds like APG and AXA are big investors
Here is the list from RCA's Q1 cross border tracker (meaning inbound/outbound to the US)
Buyers 1. Brookfield AM - Canada 2. Allianz - Germany 3. Bilgili Holding - Turkey 4. Korea Investment Holdings 5. Investcorp - Bahrain 6. BentallGreenOak - Canada 7. Tricon - Canada 8. Mapletree Investments - Singapore 9. Mapletree Industrial - Singapore 10. PSP Investments - Canada 11. Jamestown - Germany 12. GMF Capital - Switzerland 13. GIC - Singapore 14. WPT Industrial REIT - Canada 15. Partners Group - Switzerland 16. BVK - Germany 17. Munich Re - Germany 18. Ponte Gadea - Spain 19. Onni Group - Canada 20. QIA - Qatar
Sellers 1. GLP - China 2. CDPQ - Canada 3. Brookfield AM - Canada 4. ADIA - UAE 5. Investcorp - Bahrain 6. Starlight Investments - Canada 7. Sekisui House - Japan 8. CPPIB - Canada 9. OMERS - Canada 10. UBS - Switzerland 11. BentallGreenOak - Canada 12. Jamestown - Germany 13. Pure Multi-Family REIT - Canada 14. Wafra - Kuwait 15. Unizo Holdings - Japan 16. Profimex - Israel 17. Skanska AB - Sweden 18. AustrailianSuper - Australia 19. Cineworld - UK 20. Pensioenfonds ABP - Netherlands
this list shifts based on activity (a lot frankly), but clearly only big players get included.