New York-based financial services giant TIAA-CREF and global investment management firm Henderson Group have struck a deal to combine their European and Asian real estate businesses, Bloomberg News reported. The new venture, TIAA Henderson Global Real Estate, will have $20 billion of assets under management.
TIAA Henderson Global Real Estate will buy and manage commercial and multifamily residential real estate, the companies said in a statement today. The venture will invest about $1.5 billion of TIAA-CREF’s cash in the coming years to acquire properties, and will also open a commercial real estate debt business, according to the statement.
TIAA-CREF also agreed to buy Henderson’s North American property business in a related deal, according to Bloomberg News.
“There are compelling growth opportunities in global real estate,” Tom Garbutt, head of TIAA-CREF global real estate, said in the statement.
TIAA-CREF recently sold a 49.9 percent stake in five U.S. office properties in New York, Washington and Boston to Norway’s $650 billion sovereign wealth fund. In December of last year, TIAA-CREF purchased a $250 million, 49 percent stake in New York by Gehry. [Bloomberg News] – Hiten Samtani