Zoe Hughes

The Connecticut-based placement agent has hired former Cengage Learning chief operating officer Jerry Elliott to take over some of the responsibilities of founder and CEO Charles Eaton. The firm has also appointed four executives to its private equity and real estate operations.

Abu Dhabi Investment Company has reportedly bought a 90 percent stake in Manhattan’s iconic Art Deco building from an arm of Prudential Real Estate Investors. The building is believed to have sold for close to $900m.

Allocations to the private equity and real estate asset classes are expected to rise by more than 20 percent over the next two years, a study by JP Morgan Asset Management has shown, as institutional investors reveal such strategies are no longer ‘alternative’ at all.

Allocations to the private equity and real estate asset classes are expected to rise by more than 20 percent over the next two years, a study by JP Morgan Asset Management has shown, as institutional investors reveal such strategies are no longer ‘alternative’ at all.

The US senior housing real estate investment trust, American Land Lease, is the latest company to announce a strategic review of its assets, including a possible sale of its properties. Since the start of 2008, the US REIT benchmark index, the FTSE NAREIT All REIT Index, has fallen 5.5 percent.

The quoted Swiss alternative asset manager saw its private markets business, including real estate and private equity, grow by $3.4bn over the past year. However foreign exchange and hedge fund outflows hit the overall increase in assets under management in its pre-close statement.

As the world’s largest sovereign wealth funds benefit from rising energy prices and growing economies, many are expected to increase their allocation to the real estate asset class. A report from German real estate investment firm Degi predicts allocations will rise to 15 percent over the next few years, from an average of four to 11 percent.

The private equity investor is set to join the slew of firms looking to profit from a growing global need for finance to meet infrastructure costs. Some estimates suggest as much as $360bn will come from private sources.

The McLean, Virginia-based firm closes 12 debt deals through its US Debt Co-Investment fund, a joint venture between its private equity real estate arm, JER Partners, and its REIT, JER Investors Trust.

The private equity real estate firm bought out by Morgan Stanley Real Estate last year has sold three office buildings in Denver’s upscale Cherry Creek neighborhood to KBS Realty Advisors and a joint venture involving ING Clarion.