Commercial
Biggest international investors, 2010-2013 1
Name: Zhang Xin Country: China Manhattan acquisitions: $1.9 billion Number of Properties: 2
6
Name: HSBC Holdings Country: England Manhattan acquisitions: $850 million Number of Properties: 3
11
Name: OMERS Country: Canada Manhattan acquisitions: $600 million Number of Properties: 5
2
Name: M. Safra & Co Country: Brazil Manhattan acquisitions: $1.35 billion Number of Properties: 1
7
Name: Safra Group Country: Brazil Manhattan acquisitions: $850 million Number of Properties: 5
12
Name: Epic UK Ltd Country: England Manhattan acquisitions: $550 million Number of Properties: 8
3
Name: Caisse de Depot Country: Canada Manhattan acquisitions: $1.25 billion Number of Properties: 3
Name: Jamestown Properties Country: Germany Manhattan acquisitions: $800 million Number of Properties: 6
13
Name: Kuwait Investment Authority Country: Kuwait Manhattan acquisitions: $500 million Number of Properties: 1
4
Name: National Pension Service Country: South Korea Manhattan acquisitions: $950 million Number of Properties: 3
9
Name: Brookfield Asset Mgmt Country: Canada Manhattan acquisitions: $700 million Number of Properties: 2
14
Name: UBS Country: Switzerland Manhattan acquisitions: $450 million Number of Properties: 3
5
Name: PSP Investments Country: Canada Manhattan acquisitions: $900 million Number of Properties: 1
10
Name: Sahara India Pariwar Country: India Manhattan acquisitions: $650 million Number of Properties: 2
15
Name: AXA Group Country: France Manhattan acquisitions: $400 million Number of Properties: 1
8
Source: Real Capital Analytics. Data is rounded to the nearest $50 million.
of commercial real estate throughout the U.S. between August of 2005 and August of 2006, much of it focused on national retail and office portfolios, and their investments accounted for 37 percent of all foreign money plowed into U.S. real estate during that period. Australian companies are required to pay the equivalent of 9 percent of employee salaries into retirement accounts each year. With an enormous surplus of cash during the boom, these funds “really went over the top” investing in U.S. real estate, Wilcox said. That has changed since the 2008 financial crisis. “As people lost jobs and incomes were reduced,” Wilcox said, “they [began] investing at home to help drive economic growth.” According to RCA, there hasn’t been a major New York City real estate deal made by an Australian investor since 2011, when the government-backed investment fund Australian Future Fund Board of Guardians purchased a 49.99 percent stake in the Midtown office tower 685 Third Avenue for $100.3 million from TIAA-CREF. Like the Aussies, German investors have also pulled back, sources said. German lenders and equity providers aggressively courted New York City deals in the years
leading up to and immediately following the financial crisis. In 2007, for example, an unnamed German company partnered with Scott Rechler’s former firm Reckson Associates to bid on 1211 Sixth Avenue. (They lost the deal.) And in 2009, German lenders DekaBank and Helaba led a group of banks in the refinancing of SL
Foreign investors poured $1.96 billion into Manhattan real estate in the first half of 2013. Green’s 100 Park Avenue. But investment from German companies is now less common. In 2012, German investors placed just $817.34 million in direct investment in Manhattan, down from $1.88 billion in 2007, according to RCA. The real estate firm Jamestown, which is funded by a German syndicate, for example, has invested around $800 million in
Manhattan real estate over the past three years, a small fraction of the $5.8 billion is invested globally during the same period. Sources said the slowdown is primarily the result of the European Union’s prolonged recession in the wake of the global financial crisis. “In 2006, when we recapitalized the General Motors Building for [developer] Harry Macklowe, we raised $300 million in equity from Germany,” Carlton’s Michaels said. “It used to be that German investors and lenders were super-aggressive. While there is still an interest from Germany, investors from the Middle East and Asia are much more aggressive.” But not all European investors are shying away from New York. Norway, for example, is not a part of the European Union, and its sovereign wealth fund, the Norwegian Government Pension Fund Global, has been chasing New York deals as part of a recent push into the U.S. This spring, Norges Bank Investment Management, the fund’s manager, snapped up two Manhattan office properties — 470 Park Avenue South and 475 Fifth Avenue — for $660 million in Continued on page 110
www.TheRealDeal.com September 2013 53