CBRE Global Investors completed $21.1 billion in transactions globally in 2015, including $11.5 billion in acquisitions as the firm deployed capital for funds and separate accounts and $9.6 billion in dispositions as it selectively monetized assets and realized value for investor clients. This acquisitions volume represents a 25 percent increase over 2014 and the largest volume in the firm’s history.
“We continue to be a strategically proactive portfolio manager for our clients, as we are ‘cycle-aware’ in our transaction strategies to create investment vehicles that are built to last,” said Matt Khourie, Chief Executive Officer of CBRE Global Investors.
“We continue to be a very disciplined buyer and seller of properties,” said Ritson Ferguson, Global Chief Investment Officer, CBRE Global Investors. “Our clients’ appetite for adding real estate to their portfolios continues to increase. At the same time, however, we have been proactively selling properties in which we have generated good gains for our clients and feel it is an appropriate time to harvest proceeds and realize returns for them.”
With its global platform, CBRE Global Investors has in-country resources to evaluate opportunities in the markets where investors want to invest with local contacts in their home country to coordinate acquisition/disposition activity. As a result the firm has seen significant growth in cross-border capital flows over the past couple years.
The firm was particularly active in Europe with over half of the firm’s transactions executed in that market. Total transaction activity in Europe totaled $11.3 billion with approximately 60 percent of all European transactions in the retail sector.
“Through 2015 we saw an increasingly liquid market in Europe. This has enabled our priority programs to be strong disciplined buyers, and it has also been good timing to dispose of assets consistent with fund exit plans. Our level of activity in being both a buyer and seller demonstrates the competitive advantage of our platform and our ability to transact successfully at all stages of the cycle,” said Pieter Hendrikse, CEO EMEA.
In the United States, transactions totaled $7.8 billion. Investments were primarily in the office and multifamily sectors, with increasing activity in the logistics sector. Emphasis was on markets that have a strong employment growth and technology focus.
Transaction volume in Asia totaled $2.0 billion in 2015.