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Since you asked...

Rank Firm Five-year fundraising total ($m) Headquarters 1 Blackstone 48,702 New York 2 Brookfield Asset Management 29,924 Toronto 3 Starwood Capital Group 21,777 Miami 4 ESR 16,603 Hong Kong 5 GLP 15,510 Singapore 6 The Carlyle Group 14,857 Washington DC 7 BentallGreenOak 14,760 New York 8 AEW 13,496 Boston 9 Cerberus Capital Management 13,076 New York 10 Ares Management 12,971 Los Angeles 11 Gaw Capital Partners 12,417 Hong Kong 12 Rockpoint Group 11,289 Boston 13 Bridge Investment Group 11,240 Salt Lake City 14 Tishman Speyer 11,229 New York 15 Pretium Partners 11,050 New York 16 KKR 10,933 New York 17 Angelo Gordon 10,042 New York 18 EQT Exeter 9,724 Stockholm 19 Apollo Global Management 9,713 New York 20 Bain Capital 9,673 Boston 21 CBRE 9,424 Los Angeles 22 Oak Street, A Division of Blue Owl 8,823 Chicago 23 LaSalle Investment Management 8,565 Chicago 24 TPG 8,200 San Francisco 25 PAG 7,973 Hong Kong 26 Harrison Street Real Estate Capital 7,888 Chicago 27 Sino-Ocean Capital 7,472 Beijing 28 Hines 7,354 Houston 29 Rockwood Capital 6,990 New York 30 AXA IM Alts 6,920 Paris 31 Greystar Real Estate Partners 6,776 Charleston 32 Crow Holdings Capital 6,498 Dallas 33 Aermont Capital 6,370 Luxembourg 34 Pacific Investment Management Co. (PIMCO) 5,860 Newport Beach 35 Morgan Stanley Real Estate Investing 5,832 New York 36 Goldman Sachs Asset Management Real Estate 5,711 New York 37 Partners Group 5,635 Baar-Zug 38 Lone Star Funds 5,551 Dallas 39 Harbor Group International 5,453 Norfolk 40 CIM Group 5,446 Los Angeles 41 Invesco Real Estate 5,379 New York 42 Henderson Park Capital Partners 5,359 London 43 IPI Partners 5,300 Chicago 44 Rialto Capital Management 5,052 Miami 45 Fortress Investment Group 5,013 New York 46 Almanac Realty Investors 4,948 New York 47 StepStone Group 4,880 New York 48 Oaktree Capital Management 4,771 Los Angeles 49 PGIM Real Estate 4,759 Madison 50 Heitman 4,756 Chicago 51 BlackRock 4,619 New York 52 Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors 4,490 Los Angeles 53 Tricon Residential 4,462 Toronto 54 DivcoWest 4,443 San Francisco 55 Artemis Real Estate Partners 4,172 Chevy Chase 56 Keppel Capital 4,000 Singapore 57 DRA Advisors 3,906 New York 58 Westbrook Partners 3,897 New York 59 Nuveen Real Estate 3,714 London 60 Schroders Capital 3,454 London 61 Centerbridge Partners 3,307 New York 62 Sculptor Capital Management 3,215 New York 63 HIG Realty Partners 3,167 Miami 64 Tristan Capital Partners 3,154 London 65 PCCP 3,116 Los Angeles 66 NREP 3,072 Copenhagen 67 Azora 2,980 Madrid 68 Lionstone Investments 2,965 Houston 69 FPA Multifamily 2,955 San Francisco 70 GTIS Partners 2,812 New York 71 Asana Partners 2,800 Charlotte 72 Warburg Pincus 2,800 New York 73 DLE Group 2,761 Berlin 74 Harbert Management Corporation 2,689 Birmingham 75 Square Mile Capital 2,650 New York 76 Patrizia 2,611 Augsburg 77 Waterton 2,597 Chicago 78 M7 Real Estate 2,510 London 79 Prologis 2,475 San Francisco 80 Ardian 2,429 Paris 81 Walton Street Capital 2,429 Chicago 82 Wheelock Street Capital 2,329 Greenwich 83 GLP Capital Partners 2,300 Santa Monica 84 Kennedy Wilson 2,166 Beverly Hills 85 Baring Private Equity Asia 2,129 Hong Kong 86 DNE 2,126 Shanghai 87 Kildare Partners 2,101 Hamilton 88 Related Companies 2,099 New York 89 TA Realty 2,057 Boston 90 COIMA 2,038 Milan 91 IGIS Asset Management 2,013 Seoul 92 Canyon Partners 2,000 Dallas 93 Cabot Properties 1,950 Boston 94 Berkshire Residential Investments 1,917 Boston 95 Enterprise Community Partners 1,899 Columbia 96 Capman 1,890 Helsinki 97 Signal Capital Partners 1,875 London 98 Beacon Capital Partners 1,868 Boston 99 FCP 1,864 Chevy Chase 100 RoundShield Partners 1,860 St Helier

Source: PERE

and

Rank Firm Five-year fundraising total ($m) Headquarters 101 Prospect Ridge 1,853 New York 102 Westport Capital Partners 1,838 Stamford 103 Dermody Properties 1,830 Reno 104 Orion Capital Partners 1,785 London 105 Areim 1,739 Stockholm 106 Phoenix Property Investors 1,725 Hong Kong 107 Bellco Capital 1,699 Los Angeles 108 Avanath Capital Management 1,657 Irvine 109 Pennybacker Capital Management 1,600 Austin 110 Empira 1,574 Zug 111 JPMorgan Asset Management 1,569 New York 112 Abacus Capital Group 1,560 New York 113 Pictet Alternative Advisors 1,560 Geneva 114 Bell Partners 1,550 Greensboro 115 ActivumSG 1,547 St. Helier 116 Europa Capital 1,543 London 117 Southwest Value Partners 1,526 San Diego 118 MARK 1,494 London 119 Lubert-Adler Real Estate Funds 1,486 Philadelphia 120 The Praedium Group 1,473 New York 121 Spear Street Capital 1,450 San Francisco 122 Seavest Investment Group 1,421 White Plains 123 Momeni Investment Management 1,397 Hamburg 124 Phoenix Capital Holdings 1,355 Addison 125 Hony Capital 1,350 Beijing 126 Slate Asset Management 1,332 Toronto 127 Cresset Partners 1,330 Chicago 128 Mesirow 1,317 Chicago 129 Singerman Real Estate 1,315 Chicago 130 Carmel Partners 1,282 San Francisco 131 PineBridge Benson Elliot 1,279 London 132 Gohigh Capital 1,279 Beijing 133 Noble Investment Group 1,252 Atlanta 134 NIAM 1,241 Stockholm 135 Barings 1,236 Charlotte 136 Dune Real Estate Partners 1,233 New York 137 Equus Capital Partners 1,183 Newtown Square 138 Yoo Capital 1,182 London 139 Elite Partners Capital 1,181 Singapore 140 HighBrook Investors 1,150 West Palm Beach 141 AIG Global Real Estate 1,150 New York 142 Whitman Peterson 1,145 Westlake Village 143 The Milestone Group 1,130 Dallas 144 BC Partners 1,091 London 145 Woodbourne Capital Management 1,056 Toronto 146 ICAMAP 1,053 Luxembourg 147 Pantzer Properties 1,017 New York 148 JEN Partners 1,010 New York 149 LEM Capital 1,001 Philadelphia 150 Covenant Capital Group 995 Nashville 151 CapitaLand 994 Singapore 152 Portfolio Advisors 992 Darien 153 NYL Investors 989 New York 154 CapRock Partners 975 Newport Beach 155 JRK Property Holdings 963 Los Angeles 156 Longpoint Realty Partners 949 Boston 157 Osso Capital 942 New York 158 Blue Vista Capital Management 925 Chicago 159 MDH Partners 925 Atlanta 160 American Landmark Apartments 918 Tampa 161 Stockbridge 917 San Francisco 162 CITIC Capital 907 Hong Kong 163 Merlone Geier Partners 900 San Francisco 164 LBA Realty 900 Irvine 165 Arc70 Capital 896 San Francisco 166 Virtus Real Estate Capital 892 Austin 167 Argosy Capital 886 Wayne 168 Principal Global Investors 883 Des Moines 169 Patron Capital Partners 881 London 170 RockBridge 880 Columbus 171 Taconic Capital 879 New York 172 Chelsfield 879 London 173 Macquarie Asset Management 858 Sydney 174 SC Capital Partners 850 Singapore 175 MCR Hotels 832 New York 176 Realterm 829 Annapolis 177 Cortland 825 Atlanta 178 IMT Capital 825 Sherman Oaks 179 Stonelake Capital Partners 815 Austin 180 The Green Cities Company 806 Portland 181 Bow River Capital 799 Denver 182 Northwood Investors 794 Denver 183 The Davis Companies 778 Boston 184 Paramount Group 777 New York 185 CORESTATE Capital Holdings 775 Frankfurt 186 AllianceBernstein 768 New York 187 Turner Impact Capital 760 Santa Monica 188 Bainbridge ZKS 750 San Diego 189 Interstate Equities Corporation 745 Los Altos 190 KaiLong 743 Shanghai 191 Edge Principal Advisors 741 New York 192 Prime Group Holdings 739 Saratoga Springs 193 Peakside Capital Advisors 737 Baar-Zug 194 Hemisferio Sul Investimentos 737 São Paulo 195 Savanna Investment Management 734 New York 196 Rubenstein Partners 715 Philadelphia 197 Elion Partners 711 Miami 198 Revcap 707 London 199 Penwood Real Estate Investment Management 707 West Hartford 200 Hackman Capital Partners 704 Culver City

Source: PERE

 

Since I know WSO loves rankings... and that some will see a "rank" above and assume or infer "quality" of firm or where it should sit on a "get a job hierarchy" (trust me, if you understand this industry and how/what these rankings mean and are calculated, you wouldn't do that!). I am adding the 2021 IREI Global Investment Managers below, this is based on Total Real Estate AUM and is really a much better "league table" and guide to use (google for it, the PDF is easy/free to find). Just look where a firm sits on this ranking vs. PERE, then you start to understand.

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Strong disagree on the sentiment here.

Cerberus is 100 on this list. So you’re telling me it’s better to be an associate at AXA, CBRE, UBS (lmao), because they’re top 10?

The best places to get paid and get experience at junior firms are not always the largest by total AUM. Often times, it’s the opposite. Sleepy core funds often manage the most money, but doing primarily core acquisitions and asset management is not nearly as good of experience as doing opportunistic debt/equity investments. And it won’t pay you nearly as much. Just ask your pals at UBS how much they make, and then go ask your pals at Wheelock or Cerberus.

 

That's not my point at all..........

My point is that none of these rankings should be trusted as providing any means of "ranking" firms to work for. PERE simply ranks by fundraising for certain structures in value-add/opportunistic, IREI by AUM.... and it's worth noting those don't align as people think they should/do. 

Every firm, and the role one get's offered, needs to be evaluated on its own merits. I know a few people who left Cerberus who totally hated it and would absolutely take AXA or CBRE (not gonna mention the third...) retrospectively. And there are others who would do the opposite. To note... I'd totally go with AXA or CBRE GI over Cerberus!  

On WSO, PERE rankings get tossed around because 1. they are rankings and 2. PERE is an anagram of REPE. And yeah, that leads some to come away with the idea that working for Cerberus or BGO is going to be miles better than PGIM or Heitman or even one of the really down ranked PERE 200 firms like.... JP Morgan Asset Management (clocked in 111!)...

I mean, number 200, literally on the bubble is Hackman Capital Partners..... that is a really cool firm that WSO'ers should kill to join! (not a joke... research them!).

So to sum it up...... NONE OF THESE RANKINGS RANK JOB OPPORTUNITIES OR FIRM QUALITY

 

Seeing a lot of inaccuracies just from firms that I know here. I see one group that I used to work for, listed at $3-$6B AUM when real AUM is $11B now.  

Yeah I don't think the point is to take this as gospel truth, but rather as a relative guidelines for AUM.  I know a bunch of firms that are in the mid 10 figures of AUM that don't appear on here, I'm sure a lot of this is self-reported and some is just plain out of date.

 

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