A great list of institutional real estate investors / Our week in London / IMN Real Estate Forum - Newport, RI / Marc Zuckerberg’s Harvard Commencement Speech May 25 2017

A great list of institutional real estate investors

IPE Real Estate just published their list of the Top 100 global investors.  It’s a great list, for everyone in the institutional real estate world – especially those ‘emerging managers’ who are looking to raise real estate capital. (Can anyone give me the ‘definitive’ definition of ‘emerging manager’?)

Now, when a list like this gets published (shown below), those that have the money may go ‘Ugh’ here we go again as they anticipate receiving hundreds of emails and phone calls from firms wanting some of money.  However, there are different ways of approaching potential LP’s to see if they’re interested in what you have to offer.  Stay tuned to this column for some tips.

The top 100 global investors are ranked by size of real estate assets under management at the end of 2016

	Investor	Country	RE AUM ($’000s)	Total assets ($’000s)
1	Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA)	UAE	59,400,000	792,000,000
2	Allianz	Germany	54,000,000	709,000,000
3	APG	Neths	43,800,000	470,500,000
4	Canada Pension Plan Investment Board	Canada	35,308,300	267,487,000
5	Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec	Canada	32,146,500	200,971,000
6	California Public Employees Ret. Systems	US	30,100,000	314,779,000
7	California State Teachers Ret. System	US	29,458,802	211,933,828
8	Norway Government Pension Fund Global	Norway	28,780,000	899,375,000
9	PGGM	Neths	22,000,000	200,000,000
10	National Pension Service	S Korea	21,914,000	488,852,000
11	Public Sector Pension Investment Board	Canada	19,749,000	131,660,000
12	Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan	Canada	19,592,000	153,374,000
13	OMERS	Canada	19,001,300	79,825,700
14	Florida State Board of Administration	US	17,996,768	179,967,681
15	The Crown Estate	UK	17,970,000	18,980,000
16	Washington State Investment Board	US	16,350,000	109,000,000
17	Bayerische Versorgungskammer	Germany	15,803,400	84,284,800
18	Temasek	Singapore	14,802,600	87,074,100
19	Cathay Life Insurance Company	Taiwan	14,695,700	157,300,000
20	bcIMC	Canada	14,235,400	97,750,000
21	Canton de Vaud	Switz	14,024,500	88,762,900
22	Office of the New York State Comptroller	US	13,436,000	196,856,000
23	Alberta Investment Management Corp.	Canada	12,650,000	90,200,000
24	National Grid UK Pension Scheme	UK	12,458,000	22,246,400
25	Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan	Canada	12,000,000	75,000,000
26	MEAG Munich ERGO	Germany	11,125,600	278,140,000
27	Zurich Insurance Group	Switz	10,562,000	382,679,000
28	Ohio State Teachers Retirement System	US	10,384,350	74,392,016
29	Employees Provident Fund	Malaysia	9,000,000	180,000,000
30	Oregon PERS	US	8,900,000	72,000,000
31	New York State Teachers Ret. System	US	8,379,100	109,515,376
32	Ohio Public Employees Ret. System	US	8,234,603	82,846,551
33	BT Pension Scheme	UK	8,228,310	66,351,800
34	AMF	Sweden	8,158,160	48,623,100
35	GIC	Singapore	7,864,760	112,354,000
36	Mass PRIM	US	7,759,075	64,855,719
37	Alecta Pensionsförsäkring	Sweden	7,595,060	89,353,600
38	North Carolina Dep.of State Treasurer	US	7,008,000	87,600,000
39	Illinois Teachers Ret. System	US	6,943,206	54,090,771
40	Alaska Permanent Fund Corporation	US	6,875,700	57,823,800
41	Hong Kong Monetary Authority	Hong Kong	6,554,260	455,612,000
42	BPF Bouw	Neths	6,488,460	53,680,900
43	Wisconsin Investment Board	US	6,150,077	87,858,243
44	Los Angeles County Employees Ret. Assoc.	US	6,062,780	50,895,682
45	Samsung Life Insurance	S. Korea	5,829,980	225,088,000
46	UniSuper	Australia	5,798,832	55,758,000
47	AP3	Sweden	5,719,850	35,683,100
48	Royal Dutch Shell	Neths	5,689,320	81,276,000
49	AustralianSuper	Australia	5,601,550	76,912,300
50	Pennsylvania PSERS	US	5,600,000	50,000,000
51	Kanton Zürich	Switz	5,353,680	28,629,300
52	Pensioenfonds Metaal en Techniek	Neths	5,247,180	69,224,000
53	General Motors	US	4,923,000	74,062,000
54	ATP	Denmark	4,893,000	107,960,000
55	Stanford University	US	4,858,000	46,586,000
56	Yale University	US	4,804,443	36,957,254
57	AMP Superannuation	Australia	4,431,520	49,239,100
58	Ilmarinen	Finland	4,319,600	39,207,200
59	Ontario Pension Board	Canada	4,268,875	23,075,000
60	Sunsuper	Australia	4,136,210	37,209,992
61	Pennsylvania SERS	US	4,015,673	26,771,152
62	Varma Mutual Pension Insurance Co.	Finland	3,960,000	45,900,000
63	AP1	Sweden	3,955,430	35,001,100
64	AP4	Sweden	3,955,430	35,371,700
65	AP2	Sweden	3,926,350	35,694,100
66	Colorado Public Employees Ret. Assoc.	US	3,851,936	44,789,958
67	Maryland State Ret. and Pension System	US	3,819,000	45,921,000
68	Nordea Life & Pensions	Denmark	3,800,000	68,900,000
69	Future Fund	Australia	3,728,771	124,292,373
70	UN Investment Management Division	US	3,500,705	52,642,175
71	Sampension	Denmark	3,413,800	37,931,100
72	Arizona State Ret. System	US	3,378,417	35,422,651
73	Massachusetts Institute of Technology	US	3,342,065	22,294,378
74	Keva	Finland	3,227,360	48,305,600
75	Danica Pension	Denmark	3,213,240	57,369,000
76	State of Tennessee Treasury Department	US	3,163,805	38,007,526
77	Pensioenfonds van de Metalektro	Neths	3,110,950	48,306,600
78	Public Employees’ Ret. System of Mississippi	US	3,102,263	28,202,392
79	Elo	Finland	3,070,430	22,411,900
80	Universities Superannuation Scheme	UK	3,065,650	72,362,200
81	Barclays Bank	UK	3,049,240	42,058,400
82	Missouri PSRS/PEERS	US	3,014,824	40,886,625
83	Church of England	UK	3,011,210	10,383,500
84	PKA	Denmark	3,000,000	34,000,000
85	Elo	Finland	2,980,420	23,081,000
86	Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp.	US	2,963,000	99,546,000
87	Hostplus	Australia	2,930,600	20,165,604
88	Cbus	Australia	2,915,973	34,305,564
89	OPSEU	Canada	2,884,000	23,759,000
90	REST Industry Super	Australia	2,823,690	30,797,300
91	Railways Pension Trustee Company	UK	2,821,690	34,047,900
92	RPMI Railpen	UK	2,821,690	34,047,900
93	BAE Systems	UK	2,694,930	29,770,200
94	Novartis	Switz	2,636,540	12,718,600
95	Ärzteversorgung Westfalen-Lippe	Germany	2,632,000	11,882,000
96	Publica	Switz	2,554,220	36,810,400
97	Employees Retirement System of Texas	US	2,460,731	26,089,576
98	Iowa PERS	US	2,369,773	31,236,332
99	State Oil Fund of Azerbaijan	Azerbaijan	2,282,270	49,614,700
100	New York City Employees Ret. Systems	US	2,279,549	63,050,438

Our week in London

Any mention of our work in London this past week has to be prefaced with a comment about the bombing after the concert in Manchester.  Horrible and cowardly. 

I was talking with someone in London who said it was sad that the world seems to have become accustomed to a degree about tragedies like this – they happen and unless we know someone who has been directly affected – killed or injured – we feel badly for a time and go on our ways – back to our regular lives. 

I guess this is understandable as we feel the need to move on.  It’s sad that whoever does things like these pick on innocent groups to inflict pain and death to.  It’s one thing when there’s a war and armies are battling and killing each other, which is bad and sad enough, but these actions against the public – and in this case younger people – shows the absolutely lack of consideration for life.   Look at the lunatic that drove down the street in Manhattan last week. Is there anyplace that’s safe anymore? 

Felix/Weiner Consulting Group had lots of success in London this week.  We conducted an internal Behavioral Presentation Coaching Workshop with 8 very senior members of a well-known real estate private equity firm.  We could tell at the beginning of the workshop that several of the participants really didn’t want to be there. (We have seen this phenomenon before!) The great thing is that shortly into the workshop all really got into it and we received terrific feedback at the end.

On Tuesday we ran our 26^th Commercial Real Estate Women’s Leadership Workshop and on Wednesday one of our intimate, open-enrollment 6-person max presentation coaching workshops. 

As we approach the end of the ‘school year’, we’re looking forward to offering new workshops - requested by our clients. All of the programs have our similar underlying theme – It’s not just WHAT you say, but HOW you say it that makes the difference!

Over the summer our website-in-progress will be enhanced to include downloadable tips and white papers – geared to professional self-development.  I’ll be keeping you posted as that evolves.

For now, we thank all the firms that have 1) brought us in-house to facilitate professional development workshops to their teams, 2) sent individuals to our ‘open enrollment’ workshops and 3) ‘sponsored’ our events by loaning us conference rooms across the U.S and in London in which to conduct our workshops.  THANK YOU!

IMN Real Estate Forum - Newport, RI

IMN (Information Management Network) is holding their 14^th Annual Opportunity and Private Real Estate Fund Investing Forum in Newport, Rhode Island on June 25-27.  I’ve attended, and moderated panels, at this signature event (Laguna Beach, East Coast, London) a number of times – although due to a scheduling conflict in June I won’t be in Newport.  This event usually attracts around 1,000 commercial real estate players – ranging from institutional investors to a diverse group of service providers.  I just took a look at the agenda and see that IMN has recruited a diverse group of moderators and panelists.  Among these are a number of my friends who I will miss seeing on the stage.   The venue, Gurney's Newport Resort & Marina, looks terrific. I encourage you to check out this event.

Marc Zuckerberg’s Harvard Commencement Speech May 25 2017

I read the Commencement Speech Marc Zuckerberg made at Harvard yesterday.  Notice I didn’t say I ‘watched’ it – it’s probably somewhere on Facebook – which I permanently disconnected with earlier this week.

The words in the speech are commendable.  There’s a recurrent theme of ‘creating communities.’  Call me a skeptic.  I believe he’s talking about the ‘communities’ created using Facebook. 

While I’ve been passionate, and an active user of the Internet from shortly after former Vice-President Al Gore invented it, I’ve become increasingly worried about the cyber world.  I agree with Zuckerberg – we need to create communities, not just local ones, but global as well.  And, while in not so many words, he may be suggesting that Facebook is the way to do it, I’ve had a different view on things:  we need to communicate with one another, Face2Face.  I’ve been fortunate to have traveled to many countries and my underlying interest is meeting folks in those countries and talking with them.  Even if my ability to speak their language is minimal and conversely their English is the same, I have been able to have conversations everywhere I’ve traveled. 

Because the United States population is so diverse, we have a chance to do that right in our own backyards.  Emailing, while a valuable tool, is not only not a substitute.

While some folks consider the coffee houses to be ‘community-building vehicles’ they’re really not.  While it may be rare, how many times have you met someone and had a substantive chat - most people are either there with others, or on their computers or phones and, very likely, have headphones on – suggesting they don’t want to be spoken to – even if they’re not even listening to something?

Okay, I’ll get off my high horse now.  If you have 10 minutes, read Zuckerberg’s speech (Email me and I'll send you the PDF).  I found it worthwhile, even though I don’t like Facebook.  We can take words and ideas from disparate sources and use them, in our own way; to change the way we may be thinking about something or the way we approach something or someone.

The world we’re living in is fragile – for many, many reasons.  The global violence, targeting in many cases innocent people, is tragic and inexcusable – but it’s nevertheless real.  Can we reverse it?  I fear not.  Can we do something to grow the understanding amongst our fellow citizens of the world?  I believe we can – one by one – Face2Face.

A beautiful neighborhood park in London - May 25 2017