Select property fund adds to direct Asia Pacific exposure

Standard Life Investments, one of the largest property fund managers in Europe, has announced that it has made its third direct investment in the Asia Pacific property market with the acquisition of a property in Brisbane, Australia for AU$37.5m.

Acquired from Trinity Property Trust, part of the Trinity Group, on behalf of SLI's Select Property Fund, 82 Eagle Street comprises a 12 level business complex. Tenants include SMF Funds Management, Leighton Contractors and Bright Fox. Following Trinity Property Trust's recent AU$4m upgrade, the building has now set a rental benchmark for the Brisbane office market of AU$750 per sqm.

In May 2007, SLI made its first direct investment in the Asia Pacific property market with the acquisition of a property in Perth, Australia for AU$47m. A second purchase was made in Sydney, Australia in January 2008 for AU$26m.

Andrew Jackson, Manager of the Select Property Fund, Standard Life Investments, said: "We are delighted to announce the acquisition of our third Australian office building for the portfolio. It brings the direct ‘bricks and mortar' property exposure for the fund to 32%.

With strong occupational demand for this quality of asset, we believe there are opportunities to add value through an ongoing active management of the building and its tenant base.

"For those investors looking to access the growth potential of overseas property markets, the Select Property Fund continues to provide a compelling mix of globally diverse direct and indirect property assets."

The first of its kind in the marketplace, the Select Property Fund offers both institutional and retail investors in the UK access to global property markets. The Fund accesses global property markets via direct investment, unquoted specialist property products and stock exchange listed property vehicles. With a fund size of over £1.3bn, and despite recent volatility, the performance of the fund has been strong with the retail accumulation unit price rising 21.8% since launch.