Real Estate & Private Markets

   

UBS Asset Management's Real Estate & Private Markets business is one of the largest asset managers in real assets worldwide. By combining the joint expertise of over 500 talented people working across direct real estate, infrastructure equity and debt, and food & agriculture investments as well as indirect exposure to leading real estate, infrastructure, private equity and private credit managers, we believe we can offer clients integrated solutions to optimize the diversification of client portfolios, whether that be in targeting access-restricted private equity funds or niche real estate funds.

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Our US expertise

Solutions

Real Estate & Private Markets (REPM) has been active in the US since 1978. We provide a wide array of real estate investment management services to clients, including pension funds, public employee retirement systems, foundations, offshore and private investors. We have successfully invested utilizing a variety of different core and value-added strategies ranging from acquiring existing, well leased investment properties to renovations and new development projects. These strategies have been implemented with various degrees of leverage.

History

Our Real Estate - US properties business operates through UBS Realty Investors LLC, a subsidiary of UBS AG. UBS Realty Investors LLC is organized as a limited liability company and is registered with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) as an investment advisor. UBS Realty Investors LLC and its predecessors have been registered with the SEC as an investment advisor under the Investment Advisers Act of 1940, as amended, since January 5, 1994. Please note that registration does not imply a certain level of skill or training.

UBS Realty Investors LLC has two subsidiaries, UBS AgriVest LLC and a limited-purpose broker-dealer. UBS AgriVest LLC is a registered investment advisor specializing in the acquisition, management and disposition of US agricultural real estate investments for institutional clients.

UBS Realty Investors LLC, formerly Allegis Realty Investors LLC, is the successor organization to the real estate investment advisory business of Aetna Realty Investors, Inc. 

In June 1996, Aetna Life Insurance Company sold its real estate investment advisory management business to Allegis Realty Investors LLC, an entity comprised of senior management and a Massachusetts-based venture capital company. In 1999, UBS acquired Allegis Realty Investors LLC and its name was changed to UBS Realty Investors LLC.

In January 2001, the existing US real estate advisory business of UBS Asset Management, serving non-US clients, was integrated into UBS Realty Investors LLC. In February 2003, UBS Asset Management separated its real estate businesses in various regions from its traditional investments business and combined them into the Real Estate platform. The Real Estate business is most active in the United States, Europe, Japan and Australia.

Real Estate

Our strategy seeks to provide broad exposure to US commercial and multifamily real estate markets at competitive risk-adjusted returns over any three- to five-year period.

We are an institutional real estate manager providing acquisition, asset management, portfolio management, research, valuation and property sales expertise for its clients. As a professional fiduciary, we are experienced in selecting, underwriting, acquiring and managing properties varying in size from USD 10 million to over USD 500 million. Core and value-added strategies utilizing a range of investment structures, including wholly owned properties, joint ventures and participating mortgages, have successfully been implemented. Whether buying, managing or selling equity real estate, we have demonstrated the ability to serve virtually any combination of clients' requirements. 

Farmland

We firmly believe that carefully selected and well-structured investments in farmland provide a solid and rewarding component of a well-designed portfolio. A component that not only enhances risk-adjusted returns through meaningful diversification but also provides a strong hedge against inflation.

REPM offers over 25 years of farmland investment management experience. Our multi-disciplined organization offers expertise in the acquisition, asset management, valuation and disposition of all types of farmland properties. Our key professionals operate a network of contacts developed through the years across all prime agricultural regions of the US. Portfolio and investment strategies maintain representative exposure to the universe of farmland investments while exploiting pricing inefficiencies across local markets. Portfolios are diversified geographically and across land used in the production of 25 different row, vegetable and permanent crops. We maintain leasing strategies that separate the operational and commodity pricing risks of farming from our investments in the land. Investments that provide a steady source of income while offering appreciation capabilities that historically has approximated the rate of inflation.

 

Our global expertise

Our solutions

Our capabilities reach across the risk / return spectrum, ranging from core to value-add and opportunistic strategies. We offer clients both direct real estate and infrastructure equity and debt investments or indirect exposure to leading real estate, infrastructure, and private equity managers. Investors can access our diverse product range across open- and closed-ended private funds, investment trusts, listed funds, REITs and bespoke separately managed accounts.

Real Estate

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REPM, serving as a leader in sustainable real estate solutions

Our Real Estate business actively manages real estate investments of approximately USD 100 billion globally across the major real estate sectors, making it one of the largest real estate managers worldwide, offering both equity and debt investment opportunities. We offer our product capabilities on a global, regional and country basis and through open- and closed-end private funds, REITs, customized investment structures, multi-manager funds, individually managed accounts and real estate securities.

We have been investing in real estate for around 80 years, having launched our first real estate fund as early as 1943. Since then, our business has grown steadily, expanding the universe and scope of our real estate investments and adopting a truly diversified business model.

Boots on the ground

We believe real estate is an intrinsically local asset class that requires on the ground knowledge and networks to provide superior investment opportunities. Therefore, we have established offices in major markets across Europe, the US and APAC. Our commitment to maintaining an experienced team of real estate professionals differentiates us from other firms that cannot retain extensive local office networks.

Our network has a deep understanding of local markets, ensuring that we are well placed to identify underlying fundamental value and exploit short-term mispricing. This market proximity allows us to source and execute property transactions as a local player backed by our wider global network.

Focused on sustainable investment

Climate change, energy needs and water scarcity are counted amongst the biggest challenges of our century. We acknowledge that buildings contribute significantly to CO2 emissions and the consumption of natural resources.

Therefore, responsible ownership and operation of real estate can have a significant positive impact on the environment.

Infrastructure

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Sustainability is central to how REPM actively manages its infrastructure investments

Our Infrastructure platform invests globally across the key infrastructure sectors including energy, utilities, transportation, telecommunications and social infrastructure. Established in 2007, our dedicated team of specialists operates out of six international offices and manages around USD 5.6 billion in institutional client commitments.

Existing capabilities include closed end direct equity funds that invest in traditional, long-life infrastructure assets in developed countries. We target assets that provide essential services, possess strong cash flow and retain inflation protection attributes. Our direct platform also offers a clean energy strategy that concentrates on Switzerland and select other European countries. Our direct debt capability currently comprises a European strategy, which invests on a long-term basis in senior secured infrastructure credit.

Why infrastructure?

Infrastructure is capital intensive and typically has a long expected useful life, which can provide effective duration for liability-driven investors, who seek stable, predictable long-term cash flows. Private infrastructure debt provides a premium over public corporate bonds as compensation for the illiquid nature and the complexity of the investment, while infrastructure debt is lower risk than equivalently-rated corporate debt.

The defensive and essential characteristics of the assets, combined with the additional premium for private infrastructure, makes the asset class an attractive allocation for pension schemes and insurance companies. Furthermore, infrastructure can bring social and economic benefits to society. With these compelling aspects, global interest in infrastructure investments has surged over the past decade.

Focus on sustainable investing

We pride ourselves on our commitment to sustainable investing. Our investment process involves rigorous vetting of the environmental, social and governance (ESG) aspects of the asset. Throughout the investment's life, we continue to monitor the asset's ESG impact. GRESB, the Global ESG Benchmark for Real Assets, ranked our equity strategies #1 and #3 in their peer group. We've received an A+ rating from the UN-supported Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI).

Food & Agriculture

Our Food & Agriculture business offers a range of solutions that demonstrates our deep-rooted commitment in this area, for now and generations to come. As one of the leading managers of institutional farmland investment portfolios in the US since the 1980s, our strong team of seasoned experienced professionals specializing in the acquisition, management, and disposition of farmland investments evaluates opportunities across the whole food vertical – from farmland to perishable food storage.

We manage around 280,000 acres across 15 different states and 30 different major crops including row, vegetable and permanent crop farmland in select agricultural areas across the US. We are a founding member of Leading Harvest, an outcomes-based sustainability standard that addresses 13 economic, environmental, social, and governance matters through farm management – 100% of the farmland acres we manage are enrolled.

 

Multi-Managers

Our Multi-Managers business offers indirect real asset investment solutions via fund of fund structures for real estate, infrastructure and private equity – all under one roof. The combined business has a track record of 25 years and manages investments around USD 45.3 billion globally, with a team of around 90 investment professionals operating out of ten offices across the globe.

Multi-Managers Real Estate (MMRE)

In nine locations across the globe, and with atrack record of 15 years with over 150 fund investments and significant presence in major regions, MMRE provides access to and management of unlisted real estate funds carefully selected from a broad universe of managers. MMRE's product offering ranges from core to opportunistic, from developed to emerging markets, and from customized segregated mandates to commingled funds.

Multi-Managers Infrastructure (MMINFRA)

Established in 2004, MMINFRA provides solutions for infrastructure investments on a diversified basis, tailored to match individual needs of institutional investors looking for exposure to the infrastructure sector. The offering includes closed-end private funds, customized investment structures as well as individually managed accounts, with a focus on operational infrastructure assets in OECD countries. The experienced MMINFRA team looks back at a solid track record, with commitments in over 125 infrastructure funds to date and consistent performance throughout economic cycles.

Multi-Managers Private Equity (MMPE)

Established in 1997, MMPE offers holistic diversified private equity mandate and fund solutions which are geared towards meeting the needs of institutional investors such as pension funds, insurances, sovereigns and family offices. The investment team is comprised of experienced portfolio managers and investment analysts with extensive knowledge of the private equity ecosystem in the core markets across the globe.

Multi-Managers Private Credit (MMPC)

MMPC offers an opportunity to be part of one the fastest growing areas in alternative investments, deploying capital across an array of credit strategies including liquid, short duration, core income and opportunistic private credit. Solutions can be delivered in the form of commingled and customized solutions. The highly experienced investment team leverages UBS’s long-standing efforts in the non-bank lending space, providing access to higher yielding, credit investment opportunities that cover a range of risk / return profiles via open and closed-end solutions.

Swiss Real Estate Securities (SRES)

Business established in 2007, SRES offers diversified indirect Swiss property investments in both active and passive strategies, with a focus on ETFs, commingled funds and tailor-made solutions for individually managed accounts.

Responsible investing

Climate change, energy needs and water scarcity are counted among the biggest challenges of our century. UBS Asset Management's Real Estate & Private Markets business (REPM), created by the consolidation of real estate and infrastructure, acknowledges that real assets such as properties and infrastructure contribute significantly to CO2 emissions and the consumption of natural resources.

UBS has established a comprehensive approach to environmental and social factors, and to corporate governance across each of the investment disciplines.

At REPM we are committed to acting as responsible investors.

Responsible ownership and operation of real property can have a significant positive impact on the environment and returns for our clients. REPM operates with this in mind while investing both directly and indirectly into real assets. While the financial objectives of our clients remain the primary focus of our investments, our responsible investment strategy also considers long-term resilience, climate change, environmental, social and governance aspects.

In order to be able to maximize our results with regards to the implementation of our responsible investment strategy, an integrated approach is required. At UBS and REPM, sustainability plays a major role in corporate, fund and asset-level decisions.

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EU Sustainability Disclosures for EU Investors

Under the EU Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (EU 2019/2088) (SFDR) we are required to make the following disclosures where one of our non-EU funds is managed by one of our US entities (which is listed in the box on the right) and marketed to EU investors:

1, Integration of Sustainability Risk: Sustainability risks are financial risks that are defined as environmental, social or governance events or conditions that, if they occur, could cause an actual or a potential material negative impact on the value of the investment (art. 2 para. 22 SFDR). UBS believes that sustainability risks may affect the performance of investment portfolios. To enhance the long-term performance of clients' investments, UBS integrates sustainability risk into its investment decision making process where relevant. The integration of sustainability risk is implemented in line with UBS AM’s policies governing the creation of investment research views, portfolio construction and product selection.
2, Remuneration: UBS’s approach to compensation globally is underpinned by the Total Reward Principles, which establish a framework with a focus on conduct and sound risk management practices. Employees are assessed and rewarded for their performance against a range of financial and non-financial goals, including risk management. Where applicable (which may include where US employees are working on non-EU funds that are marketed into the EU), the risk management goal will include a consideration of sustainability risk. Where sustainability risks form part of an employee’s performance objectives, they are taken into account in the qualitative performance assessment, which, in turn, is one of the factors that determines an employee’s total remuneration.
3. No Consideration of Adverse Impacts of Investment Decisions on Sustainability Factors: The UBS US entities do not consider any principal adverse impacts (PAI) of investment decisions on sustainability factors as set out in SFDR and do not currently intend to do so in the future. Considering that the UBS US entities’ offerings are predominantly targeted at the US market, and that only some products are marketed to EU investors and/or may consider certain adverse impacts in the investment decision, it would be disproportionate to apply the PAI framework as defined in SFDR at the entity level.