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DeutscheÆs property arm advances in Korea

Real estate business rebrands globally and announces plans for South Korean property acquisitions.
Deutsche Asset Management has combined its Korean real estate business within Deutsche Investment Trust, integrating its property and infrastructure businesses within South Korea. Its global real estate arm has been renamed RREEF, having previously been known as DB Property Advisors.

Deutsche has had a property business in place in Korea for 10 years, and the newly branded RREEF will continue to be headed by Paul Keough.

Globally, its property business currently has $42 billion of assets under management. A small percentage is allocated towards opportunistic and value-added assets with more than 90% invested in more mainstream investment property assets.

ôWith this consolidation, our real estate business will be regulated and licensed now in Korea,ö says Kurt Roeloffs, head of RREEF Asia Pacific. ôThat allows us to expand, for example, via listed property products such as REITs.ö

In South Korea the firmÆs plan is to buy and manage larger-sized office buildings, principally of grade-A quality, but also grade B from time to time. The total size of the new portfolio is envisaged to rise to $800 million, with individual buildings priced at around $70 million.

With that anticipated ticket size, it means that DeutscheÆs business will be competing against large local players as well as the giant property funds operated by rival international financial institutions.
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