Curious about any internationally-based real estate companies that have one, or more, offices here in the U.S. Is there a list somewhere (couldn't find one) that discusses their asset classes, prestige, etc.? Generally, curious if anyone has worked for them or with them on any projects and how they might view underwriting/deals differently if their sources of capital are coming from money overseas.
This is an area I don't know much about so open to all anecdotes/info.
Real Capital Analytics maintains a list of cross-border investors (listed as buyers and sellers), you would probably have to search each one to see if they have a US office. If they are big enough to make it to the RCA office, they probably have a US office (no guarantee, but if they do deal frequently, its usually true).
I work for one of 'those' firms, but really we are the 'US' arm of a multi-national, so without getting to personal, I can't really say how different it is. But, yes, it is different in all sorts of ways. I'm in NYC, and there a lot of Int'l based firms with US presence in NYC, so I guess I see it as more common.
Capital sources can be all over the place, firm by firm, but generally firms that do this are 'exporters' bringing money to the US. But I do so several that also raise money or borrower in the US and use like home capital. It really all depends on the firm.
A lot of the foreign capital that poured into the states a few years back has retreated - think Chinese mainly. FIRPTA generally makes it challenging to be the majority owner of a real estate asset as a foreign entity, though not impossible. Some of the big Hong Kong developers have assets https://www.swireproperties.com/en/portfolio/current-developments/brick… as do Israeli's https://www.gazithorizons.com/ and Germans https://www.signa.at/en/realestate/signa-us-selection/ as well as the usual insurance companies, pensions, and sovereign. URW is likely the largest European operator stateside https://www.urw.com/ though some of the Nordics players are here as well https://www.klovern.se/en/about-klovern/. With respect to institutions, think Ivanhoe, CPPIB, Norges, ADIA, etc.
The biggest quirk with European investors is that in IFRS accounting investment properties ar marked to market, and as such investors will look at assets on a total return basis (NAV growth + price appreciation on an annual basis) which recognizes a lot of non-cash charges as well as utilizing the traditional REPE methods. Tax structuring is also a larger concern.
Interesting. So if you were underwriting a deal would you have any inputs/scenarios for overseas taxes or foreign currency exchange or is that all done back office?
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