UK fund makes inspired move into US real estate

Copyright: David Lawson – appeared Property Week Jan 1998

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Poor Prudence. The last few months have turned Britain's biggest financial institution  from a distinguished old lady into a nervous wreck. And  livid bitemarks from the Financial Services Authority watchdog over pension misselling do not create the best atmosphere for the Prudential  to tout investment skills.

   But while tempers fray in the fund's distinctive  Gothic fortress at  London's Holborn Bars, the mood is altogether more  buoyant in a more anonymous  block a few hundred yards up the road. Here, the  property team has  been doing its own cleanup - although this involves collecting  profits rather than filling financial black holes.

 While other funds twittered and whined about falling returns a couple of years ago, the Pru made an inspired tactical move across the Atlantic. It spent 350 dollars on property ranging from a regional shopping centre to giant office blocks. That  has already  generated profits of  almost  90m pounds, raising total returns on the  4.5bn portfolio by  1% this year - a handy weapon for managers selling investment  services to smaller funds nervous about the recent bad publicity.

 Such swift success - particularly in a market which has savaged so many other investors -  is a reminder that not all big funds are over-cautious behemoths, following the herd ten steps behind nimble entrepreneurs. It also shows the value of good research.

 The same approach could now shift to other undervalued parts of the world - maybe even South-east Asia. 'We avoided the region when everyone else piled in, but with prices down 30-40%, there may be opportunities now,' says Paul McNamara, head of property research.

 Mainland Europe is currently under the magnifying glass. But a shock could be waiting for surveying firms hoping to benefit from the new interest. Nick Thompson, chief property investment officer at Prudential Portfolio Managers, points out that much of the US success hinges on a radical approach to fees.

Advisers La Salle and  Wendy Luscombe, the well-known UK expat, will reap rich rewards from the ???m pounds worth of property sold over the last few months because of incentives built into their contracts. 'But there were also penalty clauses if income streams did not live up to promises,' warns Thompson.

  The Pru is considering a similar system if it pursues European purchases. There is no suggestion yet about using this technique in the UK, but further successes would inevitably lead to pressure for  advisers to put their money where there mouth is. This trend is already emerging: one of the main reasons why Richard Ellis went looking for a rich partner was to raise funds for co-investment.

  The Pru had no hidden plan for changing the structure of investment advice when it crossed the Atlantic, however. It was simple logic, according to Thompson. 'We were looking for more property; prices were too high in the UK; and the US economy looked promising,' he says.

  A crucial factor was the influence of Hugh Jenkins, then in overall charge of Prudential investment. He and  Luscombe had made a killing  over there in the Eighties for the Coal Board Pension Fund by getting in and out quickly. He returned from a business trip in 1993 with a suggestion that the time could be right to move in again.

  But the Pru, for all its lightness of foot, does nothing without intensive investigation. McNamara spent a year researching markets before allowing any move. 'We were also lucky to be offered a US portfolio to act as a measure,' he says.

  Assets were cheap at that time because US funds were out of the market with liquidity problems. The  Japanese had burned their fingers badly after pouring in billions for several years. But there were still strict   criteria to meet the Pru's needs. Firstly, real returns should be  1% above the 6% produced in the  UK, merely to justify the extra hassle of buying abroad. Assets also had to be easily liquidated.

 'The window of opportunity was relatively small. We bought assets we felt happy holding for five to ten years, but we wanted to be sure we could get out more quickly if necessary,' says McNamara.

That meant sifting out anything but 'pure vanilla' property  - straightforward investment which required no massaging, but would  gain by floating up on the general tide of recovery.

   Apartments and hotels were too radical a departure from normal investment. Industrial wallowed in environmental complications. Booming real estate investment trusts were a major reason why Jenkins had recommended a new look at the US, but the liquidity and pricing was wrong at the time.

  That left offices and retail, and these had to be in portfolio chunks rather than individual lots. Intensive research of long-term cycles and local markets narrowed these down to regional malls and offices in specific cities like Atlanta. La Salle trawled the market for possibilities meeting these criteria  but Luscombe still rejected 75% before they even reached Thompson's desk.

  One major difficulty was the extra margin demanded over domestic competitors. 'Another was that our name meant little at the start. We would lose out in tenders merely because we were an unknown player,' says Thompson - a lesson tucked away for future overseas campaigns.

 The time taken on research and careful choice was costly - not least because the market began to move. Thompson aimed to have 10% of  the Life Fund property portfolio in the US but had to settle for half that as prices recovered during the selection period.

  But the care paid off. 'Since we bought good assets in good markets, these have recovered even more quickly than expected,' says McNamara. And the markets left behind are now among the first showing signs of being overpriced.

  A 40% uplift has yielded around 90m profit - and there is a shopping mall in Los Angeles still to go. The capital uplift is still not sufficient to justify selling it, although Thompson is happy to hold when  the income return is around  7%.

  McNamara is plainly cock-a-hoop that the gamble of entering such a dangerous market paid off - although he would argue that the amount of research reduced the odds considerably.

'We are pleased with the outcome and that others were too sceptical or not geared up and have missed a trick,' he says. Lessons about issues like performance fees and presentation will last a lot longer than the champagne, however.

 If the country's biggest property investor decides to change the rules at home, this small US campaign could have a fundamental impact on the future of the UK industry.

 PRUDENTIAL’S HAUL

The original $350m portfolio comprised ten assets split around 70% offices and the rest in retail. Total sales of $313m have been agreed so far, producing gross profits of $76m. They include:

Platinum Tower, a 28,400 sq m (305,000 sq ft)  block   in Atlanta, Georgia, bought in early 1996 for $32m and just sold  to a German Investment company for more than $41m

Lakeside Square, a  36,250 sq m (390,000 sq ft) office block in  Dallas sold for $57m

Other properties in Prudential's US portfolio include suburban office buildings:

1600 Duke Street. Alexandria. Virginia

Fair Oaks Plaza, Fairfax, Virginia

North Creek,  Colorado Springs. Colorado

122 West Carpenter Freeway, Los Colinas, Texas

The retail asset is Fashion Square, at Sherman Oaks, California, a two-level enclosed regional mall on a total of 29 acres. The total retail area is 823,000 sq ft with 125 mall stores. These were  approximately 90% let when purchased and produced a gross rental income of approximately $16m.

 The  locational split was: Mid Atlantic (15%), Mid West (6%), South Central (34% ), Mountain (7%), South East (9%), Pacific (29%).