Standard Life Investments enters Asia Pacific Property Market

Standard Life Investments, one of the largest property fund managers in Europe, today announced that it has made its first direct investment in the Asia Pacific property market with the acquisition of a property in Perth, Australia for AU$47m.

Purchased from Colonial First State Global Asset Management on behalf of Standard Life Investments Select Property Fund, 55 St Georges Terrace is located in Perth’s central business district. It comprises a net lettable area of 8,600 square metres with 10 levels of office accommodation and ground floor retail. The building is fully let to a number of tenants including state and federal government departments.

Andrew Jackson, Manager of the Select Property Fund, Standard Life Investments, said: “As a company, we have direct investments in more than 500 properties across Europe and a growing capability in North America. With this acquisition in the Asia Pacific region we have demonstrated that Standard Life Investments has both the scale and the expertise to invest directly in property markets around the world. This truly global reach is something that few asset managers can match.

“The purchase of 55 St Georges Terrace is an excellent addition to the Select Property Fund’s portfolio. The Perth office market is extremely buoyant at present. It is benefiting greatly from strong economic growth being experienced in Western Australia. Rents in WA are projected to continue to experience strong growth over the next few years and we have positioned the Fund to benefit accordingly.”

“This acquisition represents a further ‘internationalisation’ of the direct property component of the fund. Our overall aim is to increase the fund’s direct property holdings to 20% and we hope in due course to announce further acquisitions in Europe, Asia Pacific and North America.” In January, Standard Life Investments announced that its Select Property Fund had broken the £1bn barrier in less than 15 months since its launch on 13 October 2005, making it the fastest growing mutual fund in the UK during the first 11 months of 2006. Now with a fund size of over £1.5bn, the performance of the fund has been very strong, with the retail accumulation unit price rising 55.6% since launch.

The first of its kind in the marketplace the Select Property Fund offers both institutional and retail investors access to UK and international property markets in North America, Europe and across Asia Pacific. The fund accesses commercial property markets via direct investment, unquoted specialist property products and stock exchange listed property vehicles globally.