Assets under management in APAC grew to EUR 6.6 billion at the end of 2020 / Experienced and diversified team of 30+ professionals located across Singapore, Tokyo and Shanghai / Portfolio performance in APAC reverting to pre-COVID levels, focus on future proofing of assets
Allianz Real Estate, one of the world’s largest real estate investment managers, has continued to expand its organizational footprint across APAC most recently with the appointment of Daisuke Noguchi as Head of Acquisitions for Japan and Dean Kwon as the Head of Finance for the region. Daisuke, based in Tokyo, brings with him over 25 years of experience in the real estate industry in Japan. Based in Singapore, Dean is a seasoned finance professional with over 19 years of experience in financial services firms across APAC and US.
“Our APAC organizational build-out is closely aligned with the growth of our portfolio in the region. We have systematically built an expert local team, starting with acquisition and asset management resources, followed by experts in transaction services and then the localization of the enabling functions. Our people are the cornerstone to our long-term success”, said Rushabh Desai, APAC CEO of Allianz Real Estate. “Daisuke Noguchi is a terrific addition to our team and will play an important role in driving our growth agenda in Japan together with Masayuki Kato who joined us last summer as Head of Asset Management for Japan.”
Allianz Real Estate now has a well-diversified team of 34 people from 10 nationalities based across Singapore, Tokyo and Shanghai, significant growth from having two people in the region at the end of 2015.
The firm recorded a 20% increase in its assets under management across APAC to EUR 6.6 billion as at the end of 2020, from the EUR 5.5 billion recorded as at 31st December 2019. The portfolio is well diversified across 40+ investments in eight markets in the region. Approximately 40% of the exposure is in fast growing markets like China and India. Office accounts for 35%, whereas “beds and sheds” accounts for 55%.
Rushabh Desai commented, “Recurring waves of COVID-19 are resulting in uneven recovery across geographies and sectors in the region. However, the crisis has validated our investment thesis within the region, as secular macro trends such as urbanization, domestic consumption, infrastructure, localization and digitalization, were accelerated by the pandemic. The resiliency of our portfolio and the strength of our organization is reflected in the portfolio performance where our occupancy and rental collections have reverted to pre-COVID levels. Our focus now is on future-proofing our assets. For example, the recent launch of our community app in Duo Tower in Singapore and the introduction of green leases in our residential portfolio in Japan have been received very well by our tenants. We look to build on from here.”