The PERE Podcast

The post-covid era and its historically challenged fund vintages have invited greater scrutiny of managers’ track records and particularly their willingness to accept risk. As investors consider allocating more capital into an anticipated market upswing, one metric is increasingly catching their attention. Loss ratios – in short, the percentage of a fund or manager’s deals that result in losses – have long been tracked as a simple way of assessing how much risk a firm typically takes on. But they are now rising in prominence as fund exits reveal just how widespread the losses have been over the last five years. This episode takes listeners inside this month’s PERE cover story on loss ratios and how investors and their consultants are using them to take a more nuanced view of fund and manager performance. Listen as host Greg Dool speaks with PERE editor Evelyn Lee to break down the numbers and how allocators are interpreting them. Joining the episode is Jeff Giller, head of StepStone Real Estate, who shares his perspective on loss ratios and how they relate to other key metrics.

It's difficult to have any conversation about private capital markets today without artificial intelligence adoption or private credit tension coming up. Whether the take is positive, neutral or negative, very real risks are leading more capital partners to look for alternative realms in which to diversify their holdings and line up management partners who excel beyond pure investment activity. For globally scaled managers in the space, such as Sixth Street, today’s market is shaping up to offer more opportunities, but the real estate market still has its own obstacles to grapple with. Whether vying for a slice of the senior housing market or simply trying to stave off turbulence until clear skies emerge, being an active dealmaker in 2026 carries its own set of hurdles. In this episode of The PERE Podcast, Marcos Alvarado, a partner at Sixth Street and its head of US real estate, gives us an inside look at how his team is approaching the investment puzzle as it relates to private real estate credit and equity markets. The global real estate investment manager has been looking beyond pure capital relations to further differentiate itself from contemporaries in the current market. As Alvarado notes, market participants are prioritizing firms that can add to their artificial intelligence understanding and implementation, enhance their portfolio allocation approach, and provide bespoke data insights beyond what is available in the mainstream.

Consolidation comes for every facet of the real estate landscape at some point, or so the most scaled participants and their acquisition targets often say.  But in today’s market, specialized managers and their business partners are looking for more than just assets under management when evaluating inorganic growth opportunities. In the case of Chatham Financial's acquisition of Hodes Weill & Associates, broken exclusively last week by PERE, the value of connectivity was on full display.  In this episode, David Hodes, co-managing partner and founder of the business named in his and Douglas Weill's sake, joins the discussion to unpack where the team sees opportunities moving forward, especially as repeat relations and data capabilities play more outsized roles in a perceivably tougher capital-raising environment.  The blending of Chatham and Hodes Weill ultimately creates an all-weather outfit which will see real estate debt and equity lines merged into a larger combined force, a resounding theme playing out among fund managers in today’s market too. And with allocators wanting more concentrated partner rosters, such a combination is expected to make a smoother roadway for capital relations ahead. 

The real estate investment management market is coming to terms with its latest hurdle this week. The cost of debt has been on the rise for some time, as select managers have told affiliated PERE titles. And in today’s market, the cost of doing business may now be outweighing borrowers’ ability to keep pace and hold their investment strategies steady heading into this market cycle. Though the impact to date has been moderate, as highlighted earlier this week in analysis shared by PERE, central banks are moving toward more defensive positions. The possibility of rate cuts has diminished as a result, as noted in a March episode of The PERE Podcast. All this sets the table for how borrowers will need to reshape their own tack to keep lines open with debt capital markets while they have liquidity to keep capital moving. In this episode, PGIM’s head of real estate credit strategies Bryan McDonnell provides his perspective on the situation at hand. Be it at the Newark-based manager or beyond, real estate fund managers and investors are having to recalculate their basis and re-order how they navigate the next wave of acquisitions, holds and exits arriving in their pipelines.

This episode is sponsored by Arrow Global European hospitality markets have thrived in the post-pandemic period, supported by a surge in international visitor numbers. And the warmer climate of Southern Europe makes countries like Spain, Portugal, Italy and Greece enduringly popular with holidaymakers. Investment capital has flowed in, driving rapid institutionalization of a market formerly characterized by family-run hotels. Southern European hospitality markets offer a range of entry points for investors across the capital stack, from equity to senior credit, and the opportunity to make attractive income-driven returns. However, increased competition means bargains have become hard to find. In this special episode of The PERE Podcast, John Calvao, co-founder and head of real estate and hospitality at Arrow Global, offers insights on how to navigate the challenges of a market where execution risk is considerable and customers are demanding ever-increasing levels of service. He argues that local expertise and on-the-ground delivery capability are crucial to managing costs and ensuring that capex is spent where it generates the greatest impact on returns. Calvao also explains the importance of controlling resort “ecosystems” so that hotels, amenities and attractions like golf courses combine to generate year-round activity and maximize revenue.

In this episode, the team looks at the preliminary findings of PERE's Q1 2026 fundraising report. Listen as host Lucy Scott discusses the trends behind these numbers with PERE senior reporter Christie Ou, Real Estate Capital Europe editor Daniel Cunningham, and PEI research manager Kristina Savcenkova, who worked on the data. Among the headline themes is that fundraising is down, with managers raising just under $44 billion globally in Q1 2026, down from $81.4 billion a year earlier. While the drop partly reflects the absence of the mega-fundraisings seen in early 2025, it also points to a more selective market. Another key shift this quarter was the resurgence of value‑add strategies, which accounted for more than half of all capital raised. Debt strategies also remain in favor. However, despite subdued volumes, there were encouraging signs beneath the headline numbers. Funds are closing faster, and a growing proportion are meeting or exceeding their target sizes – suggesting that the market is finding its footing, even amid ongoing macro uncertainty.

In this episode, we explore a trend reshaping the relationship between public and private real estate markets: listed REITs stepping confidently into private capital fundraising.   While many first-time private managers continue to face an uphill battle in securing commitments, a different cohort is gaining meaningful traction. Last week, data center specialist Digital Realty raised $3.25 billion for its debut private fund, targeting hyperscale development in the US. The fundraising effort ranks alongside the top five private real estate funds closed so far this year.   Meanwhile, sale-leaseback specialist REIT Realty Income is accelerating its own private market push. In just a few months, the REIT has launched two major private joint ventures, most recently with Apollo Global Management. In March, Apollo said it will deploy $1 billion for a 49 percent stake in the newly formed JV with Realty Income. Earlier this year, the REIT formed a US logistics venture with Singapore sovereign wealth fund GIC for a total capitalization of $1.5 billion.   In this episode, Realty Income’s president and CEO Sumit Roy joins Jonathan Brasse, PEI’s editor-in-chief, real estate, to unpack how scale, performance, track record, sector specialization and meaningful co-investment are in line with investor demands. Roy also reveals how the firm plans to double, or even triple, its private partnerships by this time next year.  The discussion points to a shift that the market is increasingly seeing unfold: more specialist listed REITs are becoming suitably positioned to follow in the footsteps of firms like Realty Income and Digital Realty, becoming a new type of contender in private real estate fundraising in the process. 

The institutional real estate fund management world is taking this market cycle as a moment to recompose itself. And over the last week, a clear theme of reflection has emerged: industrial portfolios will need to be fine-tuned to prepare for a real estate reset over the next five years. The days of simply buying, financing, holding and selling have long been gone even within the most favorably viewed asset categories. The industrial sector is currently presenting a compelling case study for how the most scaled names are actively revisiting their holdings. Often, a blend of acquisitions, debt packages and exits are being assembled any given week to continually sharpen industrial sector exposure. Last week, EQT Real Estate’s industrial reconfiguration was on display. As reported in PERE Deals, the firm bought nine industrial buildings across Southern New Jersey from New York Life Investment Management for about $309 million – adding about two million square feet of prime industrial space to its portfolio. By the end of the week, EQT found itself on the other side of the table. The firm closed a $650 million sale to Ares Management that included 36 industrial assets across 13 states, offloading equally prime pieces in its portfolio. The net result: a more concentrated stateside industrial footprint in what is still regarded as one of the best categories for Class A trades and financings. EQT’s recalibration is not happening in a vacuum compared with other real estate equity managers. Blackstone, alongside its Link Logistics subsidiary, closed a $163.1 million purchase of a four-warehouse portfolio from Clarion Partners in South Florida this week. As seen in previous reports, Blackstone had been reducing its industrial concentration across the region and was arguably in a selling stance – having shed more than $1 billion-worth of industrial assets across South Florida from 2024 onward. Aasif Bade, founder and chief executive officer at Ambrose, joins us this week to further unpack how industrial sector investors are approaching the sector to land prime opportunities across primary, secondary and tertiary geographies. As he notes, even within individual cities, industrial investment opportunities can look vastly different because of the most familiar refrain for evaluating industrial deal potential: location. All this sets the stage for a sector that is now having to compete for investor attention and electrical grid capacity alongside data center strategies, the latter of which took the top spot for sector-based strategy raises according to PERE's full-year fundraising report for 2025.

This episode is sponsored by LaSalle and Nuveen Real Estate Liquidity is returning to European real estate credit markets. Growing confidence that interest rates have stabilized and prices have reset is encouraging debt investors to provide a steady flow of capital to sponsors. And that is helping to kickstart transaction activity. European banks are back with an appetite for new business. That means competition between lenders is heating up, especially to provide low-risk senior finance. Fewer lenders are stepping forward to finance more complex situations, though, creating an opening for debt funds as the market regains momentum. In this special episode, recorded in January 2026, Isabelle Brennan, senior managing director at LaSalle, and Christian Janssen, head of real estate debt for Europe at Nuveen Real Estate, pinpoint the lending opportunities available to private credit providers as the market enters a new cycle. The conditions are finally in place to generate an increase in borrowing for new transactions, not just refinancings, Brennan suggests. Meanwhile, lower pricing for loan-on-loan finance has seen an increase in the use of back leverage, which is helping debt funds generate attractive equity-like returns. Macroeconomic uncertainty caused the market to stall briefly in 2025, but the year ended with a surge of activity, says Janssen, and that has continued into 2026.

The global real estate market has hinged its outlook of resurgence on maintaining relatively stable financing market conditions, but pressure is building up that may force global central banks to hold off on interest rate relief for longer – in turn forcing more stalls on dealmaking. Select real estate fund managers in the US were predicting anywhere from two to four interest rate cuts by the Federal Reserve in 2026. However, economic pressure stemming from the Iran war is expected to dampen how the Fed, European Central Bank and Bank of England will approach any changes in the coming quarters. With each central bank converging last week, commercial real estate investment managers received clear signals that any hopes for an industry rebound may need to be delayed, with interest rates holding steady and the possibility of future increases still on the table. In the US real estate market, the ever-present maturity wall is looming and asset owners and sponsors are finding themselves re-sourcing debt at a significant premium to the days of low to no interest rate pressure. Across the US market, there is an estimated $936 billion of maturing loans due this year – an almost 20 percent jump compared to 2025 according to data from the Mortgage Bankers Association. The commercial mortgage-backed securities market, as an example, has an estimated $76.6 billion of debt due to mature in 2026 with extension options wearing thin. The road ahead is by no means smooth for institutional real estate investment managers, and global central banks’ next response to macroeconomic pressure could determine if 2026 will truly be the year of the fix as market participants have postulated.

PERE podcast host Lucy Scott sits down with Real Estate Capital Europe's editor Daniel Cunningham and PERE EMEA editor Charlotte D’Souza to catch-up on the insights from this year’s MIPIM conference in Cannes. Join the team as they discuss how the US and Israel war on Iran – which was into its 11th day as delegates arrived for the annual event – was affecting sentiment and hear their thoughts on whether market participants see the crisis as likely to derail real estate’s recovery. Daniel and Charlotte also provide their feedback on capital flows, gathered from dozens of meetings held with senior managers and lenders over the course of the week. Find out why investors are seeking to commit to commingled funds, showing preference for club deals, joint ventures and separate accounts, and how, on the debt side, lenders are faring as they continue to compete for deals.

This episode is sponsored by Deutsche Pfandbriefbank In recent years, alternative lenders have satisfied an increasing proportion of the European property market’s financing needs. But banks still account for the lion’s share of activity. In this episode of The PERE Podcast, Duncan Pearson and Charles Balch, managing directors at Deutsche Pfandbriefbank (pbb), explore the new avenues for cooperation between the different classes of lender. They argue that today, both banks and debt funds are established as essential and complementary elements of the lending ecosystem, with the relationship between them evolving beyond simple rivalry. Pearson explains the rationale behind pbb’s Originate and Cooperate program, which promotes collaboration between the bank and alternative finance providers. He suggests that the initiative will lead to more sustainable capital structures and lower financing costs for borrower clients, while enabling the bank and its partner lenders to access a wider range of business opportunities. The lending environment has changed, notes Balch, so banks need to position their balance sheets to meet the needs of the new cycle, serving a wide range of borrowers, who in turn are seeking to make real estate assets fit to meet the rapidly evolving requirements of today’s end users. The pair conclude that while 2026 is unlikely to be a “soaraway” year, and financing remains expensive for transitional projects, liquidity is beginning to return to European real estate markets, bringing with it improved prospects for transaction activity.

This week, we bring you extracts from an interview with François Trausch, PIMCO Prime Real Estate's chief executive and chief investment officer. At the start of 2026, PIMCO Prime Real Estate identified real estate debt markets as one of the most compelling themes for the year, based on the view that as liquidity returns to the market, debt strategies present originators with opportunities that offer a combination of relatively low risk and attractive returns. In the paper, the company, which has a real estate debt book of €23 billion, forecasted that transaction activity will rise in 2026 – and with it, acquisition financing. It says that while the “wall of maturities” continues to shape the market backdrop, narrowing bid-ask spreads are beginning to unlock dealflow across major asset classes. If this unfolds further, it will mark a significant shift for lenders after several years in which refinancing activity has dominated the landscape. Listen here as Trausch unpacks these ideas during an interview with Real Estate Capital Europe's editor Daniel Cunningham and explains what returning liquidity means for property credit managers, where opportunities are expanding for non-bank lenders, and how they can position themselves to capitalize. He also shares his longer-term outlook for real estate debt. An article based on this interview can be read in full in the Spring issue of REC Europe.

This week on The PERE Podcast, focus is turned to Singapore, where a lively docket of PERE Asia keynotes and panels have just concluded. The event saw record attendance across its three days, with some 600 delegates in attendance across the event including institutional investors, managers and advisers.  PERE has been active in tracking perspectives from leading institutions and firms onsite, including analysis on how Adu Dhabi Investment Authority and Australian Retirement Trust are navigating fund investment activity in 2026. For this episode, PERE editor Evelyn Lee’s keynote interview with Starwood Capital Group president Jonathan Pollack takes center stage. Pollack is a primary driver of the manager’s overarching strategy and daily business operations, and as PERE reported in a September 2025 cover story, he is also the chosen successor to Starwood founder and chief executive officer Barry Sternlicht.  Pollack covers a broad range of topics, all spanning from his first year in as the operational overseer for Starwood. The firm is angling to work more closely with insurance capital partners; continue clean-up and related asset management work linked to Starwood’s $7 billion take-private of ESR Group in 2025; and take a more cloud computing-centric tack to its data center investment pipeline. All this is under the backdrop of global geopolitical issues, which are expected to force financial market participants to recalibrate for US policy as military escalations take place in Iran and select neighboring countries.

This episode is sponsored by Knight Frank and Reed Smith Back leverage has emerged from the shadows to have its moment in the sun. Not long ago, taking on debt to partly fund loans was a practice frowned upon by many European investors and borrowers. But today, it is increasingly used and accepted. In this special episode of The PERE Podcast, Jess Qureshi, an associate in Knight Frank’s capital advisory team, and Josh Hughes, a partner at law firm Reed Smith, review the use of back leverage in European real estate finance. How does it work? Who is using it and why? And what are the risks and rewards involved? Jess lays out the results of Knight Frank’s latest research on the space, which reveals how extensive European lenders’ employment of back leverage has become. Meanwhile, Josh analyzes the technicalities of structuring loan-on-loan and repo line arrangements in the most effective manner. The pair emphasize the crucial importance of alignment between alternative lenders and their back leverage providers. While it involves increased risk, the pair conclude that using back leverage creates more liquidity for borrowers because it enables lenders to originate more loans while juicing the return on capital achievable for investors in real estate credit markets.

We return to the familiar territory of real estate investment trust take-private deals this week, as host Randy Plavajka uncovers how private real estate managers aiming to capitalize on listed market dislocations may face a reshaped landscape as REIT market health gradually returns. Even as take-private efforts are actively launched this week – such as an agreement between Affinius Capital and Vista Hill Partners to take Veris Residential REIT private in a deal valued at $3.4 billion – the outlook ahead for similar opportunities could shift, as some market analysts suggest. Joining Randy from London are Jonathan Brasse, PEI’s editor-in-chief, real estate, and Sarah Marx, reporter at PERE Deals, who bring in recent commentary and prior-year data on REIT take-private deals to cast more light on the factors set to impact future opportunities in the space. Changes in valuation processes, increasingly available dry powder for listed real estate businesses and updated private-side scaling initiatives are all expected to reconfigure how private managers target take-private deals in the next cycle of the real estate market. The team is joined by Matthew Norris, head of real estate securities at Gravis, later in the episode. His firm, a regular commentator on REIT capital markets activity, sees more signs of inflection in today’s market, including public-to-public mergers, valuation reconsiderations, and the potential return of steadier initial public offerings throughout REIT categories.

The PERE Podcast heads to Las Vegas this week as host McKenna Leavens breaks down one of the splashiest capital markets moves of the year: Blackstone’s planned $3.05 billion CMBS refinancing of The Cosmopolitan. The deal taps into powerful forces shaping today’s credit landscape, from the growing appetite for top-tier hospitality assets to the resilience of destination markets in a post-pandemic environment.  Joining McKenna in New York are PERE Credit deputy editor Randy Plavajka and PERE Credit senior reporter Shihao Feng, who unpack why this transaction is resonating so strongly in today’s lending market. The team traces the long-running attraction of institutional capital to Las Vegas, dating back in modern markets to the billions in hospitality trades made in 2020 and 2021, and why that conviction is now spilling over onto the debt side. They also explore Blackstone’s deep footprint in the market.   From the surge in securitized refinancing activity to the growing role of SASB structures and the rise of C-PACE as a flexible capital tool, the episode digs into how Vegas has become a proving ground for refinancing activity heading further into 2026. Later in the episode, listen as founder and managing partner of Brighton Capital Advisors, Michael Cohen, shares how The Cosmo refinancing ranks within today’s CMBS landscape and what it signals for hospitality financing more broadly. 

This episode looks at the relationship between artificial intelligence risk and private real estate investing. Major firms including Amazon, Meta, Google and Microsoft are projected to spend approximately $650 billion on AI and related infrastructure. Amazon alone says it intends to spend $200 billion on AI, chips, robotics and satellites. Will these plans prove to be sustainable long-term strategies, or is this a sign of a bubble? How an AI-driven correction could impact institutional private real estate – in terms of capital flows, asset pricing and demand assumptions – is a pertinent question. This is especially the case in light of the industry's push into the data center sector, both in the US and Europe, across equity and debt strategies. But the impact of a correction would not necessarily stop there. This week, we ask Goodwin Gaw for his perspectives on the subject. Listen as the co-founder and chairman of Gaw Capital Partners, one of Asia's most prominent private real estate managers, addresses how investors might position themselves to capture AI-related growth while remaining defensive against cyclical volatility. For real estate, data centers may be the most obvious way to ride the AI wave. But they’re not without risk. If sentiment shifts or capital tightens, that part of the market could feel it first. What may emerge instead is a two-pronged approach to investing: doubling down on the fundamentals of necessity-driven assets on one end, and high-conviction luxury and lifestyle assets on the other. Gaw says this is a moment for the industry to stay nimble, to anticipate disruption and to be firmly on the front foot. This episode is an excerpt from a wider interview between Gaw and Jonathan Brasse, PEI Group's real estate editor-in-chief. The discussion was recorded as part of a webinar for PERE Network members, designed to share insights emerging from PERE's Advisory Board conversations.

This episode is sponsored by AllianceBernstein European real estate is entering a new phase, with values reset, interest rates stabilising and investors adjusting to a world where ultra-low borrowing costs are no longer the norm. In this episode of The PERE Podcast, Clark Coffee, chief investment officer of AllianceBernstein’s European commercial real estate debt business, discusses why this shift is changing the balance between equity and debt investing and why downside protection has become paramount. He notes that one challenge in today’s environment is trying to understand what assets might be worth if business plans fail or markets shift – a task made more urgent by rapid changes driven by AI, remote working and evolving real estate use. Against this backdrop, Coffee sees European real estate debt becoming more popular among investors as a secure source of income. To read more about European real estate debt, check out the latest deals in Real Estate Capital Europe's lending database

The rapidly institutionalizing industrial outdoor storage sector is back in the spotlight this week thanks to an agreement struck by Brookfield Asset Management to take real estate investment trust Peakstone Realty private for $1.2 billion in cash. The deal marks a dramatic return to the IOS space for Brookfield, which sold a portfolio of IOS properties it had aggregated in the US for $277 million a year ago, and highlights investors’ growing conviction for a hot subsector of the broader industrial market. With that mega-deal setting the tone, The PERE Podcast takes a deep dive into the industrial outdoor storage market – including the most basic question: What actually constitutes IOS? What is driving investors’ and fund managers’ aggressive pursuit of scale in the fragmented sector? And what do their varying approaches suggest about the outlook for the category? Host Greg Dool sits with PERE Credit deputy editor Randy Plavajka and PERE Deals reporter McKenna Leavens to discuss all of these questions and more. Later in the episode, we hear from Price Booker, chief investment officer at Maryland-based manager and industrial outdoor storage specialist Realterm, for his perspective on the risks, opportunities and growing investable market associated with IOS strategies. Citations: Brookfield takes Peakstone private in $1.2bn deal - PERE Deals Realterm reels in €470m for second European IOS fund - PERE

If you're a regular listener, tell us what you think. We are currently inviting feedback via this survey as we seek to improve our podcast output. We would love to hear your feedback on what you enjoy about these weekly episodes and to better understand what we can improve.  Show notes The oil-rich economies of the Middle East’s Gulf Cooperation Council have long been essential capital sources for private real estate managers, with the region well-represented among the largest institutional investors in the asset class globally. But for a growing number of firms, Middle-East real estate is now emerging as a destination for capital deployment too. On the latest episode of The PERE Podcast, we discuss how economic diversification, growth forecasts, regulatory reforms and relative isolation from tariff volatility have prompted several international asset managers to launch or commit to strategies targeting the region over the past year, including Gaw Capital, Blackstone, Brookfield Asset Management, SC Capital Partners and Rava Partners, among others. But investment in the region comes with its own unique risks, as exemplified this week by news that Saudi Arabia is scaling back previously outlined plans for several ambitious development projects, including the futuristic city known as 'The Line.' Do depressed oil prices, tightening liquidity conditions and continued geopolitical concerns represent a threat to these institutional plays targeting the region? Or are more firms likely to join the rush undeterred? Host Greg Dool sits with PERE’s EMEA editor Charlotte D’Souza and PEI Group’s real estate editor-in-chief Jonathan Brasse to break it all down. Later in the episode, Brasse sits down with Ghada Sousou, managing partner of executive search firm Sousou Partners, which last year formed a dedicated capital advisory business focused on connecting private fund managers with Saudi Arabian institutional capital. Further reading: PERE's Full-Year 2025 Fundraising Report PERE's Global Investor 100 ranking Saudi Arabia to scale back Neom megaproject - The Financial Times Blackstone forms $5bn Gulf logistics venture Gaw Capital's Middle Eastern promises Hillhouse's Rava debuts in Gulf with school platform

Net-lease strategies have long occupied a distinct niche of the broader commercial real estate market as a stable, low-risk, long-term inflation hedge. But after a string of billion-dollar deals involving some of the world’s largest private real estate firms, the net-lease sector is anything but boring. On this episode of The PERE Podcast, host Greg Dool sits with PEI’s real estate editor-in-chief Jonathan Brasse and PERE Deals reporter McKenna Leavens to discuss the latest high-profile capital formation event: a $1.5 billion logistics joint venture between Singaporean wealth fund GIC and Realty Income, the largest listed US net-lease REIT. Listen as the team discusses several unique aspects of the deal, including its role in the ongoing convergence of public and private real estate portfolios, as well as the precedent set by GIC’s previous push into the US net-lease sector with a $15 billion privatization of STORE Capital three years ago. We also shine a spotlight on net-lease strategies generally: what they are, how they work and why they are an area of growing conviction for private real estate investors. Later in the episode, we are joined by Scott Merkle, managing director at sale-leaseback and M&A advisory firm SLB Capital Advisors, who shares his own informed perspective on the net-lease sector and what market participants can expect there in the year ahead. If you're a regular listener, tell us what you think. We are currently inviting feedback via this survey as we seek to improve our podcast output. We would love to hear your feedback on what you enjoy about these weekly episodes and to better understand what we can improve. 

On this week’s episode, the team turns to the ultimate barometer for institutional appetites toward private real estate: fundraising volumes. The release of PERE’s full-year 2025 fundraising report earlier this week brought news of a long-awaited rebound in capital formation in the asset class after some challenging years. But what is really behind the recovery, and what does it suggest about where things are headed in 2026?  Listen in as host McKenna Leavens is joined by PERE editor Evelyn Lee and PERE Americas editor Greg Dool to break down the overarching takeaways – including that fundraising volumes climbed nearly 30 percent year on year to mark the first annual increase since 2021 – as well as some of the more complex stories beneath the year's big stories.   The episode explores the outsized role played by mega-managers, the resurgence of opportunistic strategies, divergent regional outlooks, the data center effect and why fundraising timelines continue to stretch to new record highs.  Later in the show, listeners will hear from Ryan Cotton, head of real estate at Boston-based Bain Capital, who has a fresh perspective on the topic after recently closing his firm’s third flagship real estate fund on $3.4 billion in commitments.  If you're a regular listener, tell us what you think. We are currently inviting feedback via this survey as we seek to improve our podcast output. We would love to hear your feedback on what you enjoy about these weekly episodes and to better understand what we can improve. 

For the year’s first episode of The PERE Podcast, the team lays out some of the major themes likely to impact the private equity real estate market over the next 12 months.   Join co-host Lucy Scott, PERE editor Evelyn Lee and PEI real estate editor-in-chief Jonathan Brasse as they look at how geopolitical turbulence continues to unsettle the real estate industry as its re-opens after the holiday break. The team also digs into how financial disruption caused by the bursting of an AI bubble could overshadow optimism. In addition, hear from David Steinbach, global chief investment officer at Hines, as he chats with co-host Greg Dool about his expectations for the year ahead, including his forecasts for dealmaking and capital deployment. If you're a regular listener, tell us what you think. We are currently inviting feedback via this survey as we seek to improve our podcast output. We would love to hear your feedback on what you enjoy about these weekly episodes and to better understand what we can improve. 

For the year’s final episode of The PERE Podcast – and the second installment of our two-part year-end series – the team is closing out 2025 with a look back at the investors, managers and themes that reshaped the private equity real estate market over the last 12 months.   Co-host McKenna Leavens is joined by PERE editor Evelyn Lee and PERE Deals editor Guelda Voien to unpack the biggest stories of 2025, from major M&A activity and headline-grabbing deals to the unique ways market participants found opportunities in a volatile and capital-constrained world.  The conversation explores the surprises that emerged as some sectors gained momentum and drove investors back into action, and the stories that resonated most with readers throughout 2025. The team also reflects on a milestone for PERE Deals, marking its first full year as a standalone publication, and its coverage of a noticeable pickup in capital deployment in the year’s second half.  Looking ahead, the editors share their perspectives on whether fundraising conditions are set to improve, the outlook for continued M&A activity and where investors are likely to place their bets as the calendar flips to 2026.  In case you missed it: Catch up on last week’s episode recapping the biggest themes in real estate debt here.

As the year draws to a close, we will spend the next two weeks breaking down the top private real estate headlines from 2025, as well as the trends that defined market activity. Next week, equity is in the spotlight. This week, the team is zeroing-in on debt, the engine room of the industry. Lucy Scott sits down with PEI real estate debt gurus Daniel Cunningham, editor of Real Estate Capital Europe, and Samantha Rowan, editor of PERE Credit, to discuss the best-read content of the year, the standout themes and their takes on what these stories tell us about the forces shaping the European and US credit markets. The team also give their insights on how these themes will play out in 2026. Will competition, a defining feature of the debt markets today, intensify? And if so, where will lenders go to deploy capital and find fresh ways to stay competitive? The team also breaks down the topic of back leverage lending – one of the biggest stories this year – and looks at how this theme might evolve as more lenders seek to use the tool in Europe.

Lending activity is ramping up in European real estate markets amid rising appetite from banks and alternative lenders alike – even as a limited number of investment deals to finance creates intense competition for opportunities. That is just one of the takeaways from affiliate title Real Estate Capital Europe’s annual Active Lenders report, an exclusive compendium of 64 of the continent’s busiest real estate debt providers through the year’s first three quarters. On this episode, host Greg Dool chats with Real Estate Capital Europe editor Daniel Cunningham and senior reporter Silvia Saccardi for a dive into the key findings, including the fact that this year’s list indicates a resurgence among traditional banks in addition to their alternative counterparts. Later in the episode, we hear directly from one of those Active Lenders, Leumi UK’s head of property finance Peter Clayton, for his perspective on the list and what it suggests about where the market is headed in 2026.

This episode discusses ICG’s retrenchment from Asia, following a line of western managers doing the same. We also speak to Gaw Capital, chairman of Goodwin Gaw, about his views on the current trend and the firm’s own renewed focus on the region. Last week, PERE revealed plans by Intermediate Capital Group to shut down its Asia real estate business. The London-based firm, which manages approximately $7 billion of real estate assets, only expanded into the region three years ago.   Its withdrawal follows a number of private real estate investment management businesses and investors announcing similar plans, a trend of deglobalization being driven by geopolitical forces. While this is occurring generally, the impact of deglobalization on Asia is especially pronounced. Other recent examples of western managers backing away from the east include AEW, which has halted its flagship regional fund series, and the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan, which has disbanded its Asia real estate team.   Discussing these issues with The PERE Podcast host Lucy Scott is PERE’s Asia senior reporter Christie Ou. Listen as they dissect the trend, starting with Ou’s reporting on ICG’s plans.   PERE’s editor-in-chief Jonathan Brasse also calls upon Goodwin Gaw, co-founder and chairman of Hong Kong-based private real estate manager Gaw Capital, to share his views.   He tells PERE: “The days of financial engineering trumping local knowledge are over”, adding how managers with deep local knowledge and presences are best equipped to prevail given how wider forces have reshaped the opportunities in private real estate markets. Gaw also reflects on his own firm’s decision to stop offering more institutional products in western markets as part of a strategy to retrench to Asia.

Transaction activity has at last been picking up in the private real estate market after a multi-year slowdown. But one area that has stayed consistently busy has been the dealmaking environment for property fund managers themselves. A string of deals dating back to last year has seen fundraisers band together to boost their assets under management, diversify their client offerings and seek to capture a greater share of capital from an increasingly disparate set of global investors and capital sources. One trend that has emerged of late has involved several manager stake sales that fit a similar paradigm: Large Japanese corporations, often with ties to the hefty investment arms of major insurance businesses, acquiring US- or Europe-based asset managers with sizeable real estate exposure. From last week’s PERE exclusive on insurer Tokio Marine buying a majority stake in US real estate debt fund manager ACORE Capital, to Mitsui Sumitomo announcing the purchase of an 18 percent stake in Barings, to Mitsubishi Estate buying a majority stake in London-based Patron Capital – a deal which officially closed in the last week – and multiple other deals this year, one thing is clear: Japanese buyers represent a cohort of investors with serious appetite for private asset managers with inroads in the Americas and Europe. Is it a trend? What is driving the activity? And what does it portend for the managers being acquired, the consolidators doing the acquiring, and those positioning themselves as the next targets? The latest episode of The PERE Podcast highlights several of these deals, with host Greg Dool in conversation with PERE editor Evelyn Lee and senior reporter Harrison Connery. Later in the episode, we also hear from Patron founder Keith Breslauer for an update on his firm’s transition to Mitsubishi ownership and whether the market can expect to see additional similar deals moving forward.

This episode is sponsored by Manulife Investment Management As new industries evolve and accelerate, new opportunities are constantly arising for institutional investors in the private real assets space. It isn’t always easy, however, for managers to grasp hold of these opportunities. As assets like data centers have become investable in recent years, managers have found that they need to devote time and effort to understand the dynamics around these unfamiliar assets. And the private markets industry has occasionally been guilty of obsessing over which labels to apply to emerging assets. This is the first episode of our Private Markets 2030 podcast miniseries, part of PEI Group’s wider initiative exploring how private markets are evolving as we enter the decade’s second half. Across the series, we unpack how managers can adapt, attract capital and deliver performance in an increasingly complex market. Joining us are three guests from Manulife Investment Management: Erin Patterson, global co-head of research and strategy; Maggie Coleman, the firm’s chief investment officer for real estate equity and co-head of global portfolio management; and John Anderson, global head of corporate finance and infrastructure. They discuss how multi-product managers have an advantage in expanding into new opportunity sets and argue that a multi-product approach offers obvious benefits around diversification, while allowing managers the flexibility to pivot into new opportunity sets.

A recurring theme in real estate private equity this year has been the proliferation of capital into so-called “niche” or alternative property types beyond the traditionally institutionalized sectors such as office, retail, industrial, multifamily residential or hotels. But while much attention has been paid to the emergence of segments including data centers, student accommodations or outdoor storage, another area of rising conviction among both institutional investors and their asset managers is affordable housing – particularly in the US, where mounting supply shortages have evolved into what most observers describe as a crisis. Increasingly, private market investors want to be a part of the solution, and a growing cohort of asset managers are devising ways to address the problem while also creating strong opportunities for risk-adjusted returns. On this episode, co-host Greg Dool is joined by PERE Credit editor Samantha Rowan and PERE Deals editor Guelda Voien for a look at why affordable housing is increasingly viewed as a strong match for institutional investment portfolios and the managers hoping to capture those allocations. We also hear from Alicia Glen, founder of New York-based private equity firm MSquared, which is currently raising its second impact-focused essential housing fund, in conversation with PERE Podcast co-host McKenna Leavens. Further reading: PERE: MSquared’s Glen: ‘We need to do things differently’ in affordable housing PERE: CIM Group holds first close on debut fund focused on US affordability crisis PERE Credit: Mamdani win underscores need for affordable, middle-income housing National Association of Realtors: First-time home buyer share falls to historic low of 21%, median age rises to 40 American South Capital Partners announces $60 million first close of its third affordable housing fund Federal Reserve Bank of New York: 2025 Case Study on Managers of Multifamily Affordable Housing Private Investment Vehicles

In this episode, host McKenna Leavens sits down with Jonathan Brasse, PERE editor-in-chief, and Evelyn Lee, PERE editor, to unpack the optimism circulating at PERE Network’s 20th annual America Forum, held earlier this week in New York City. The flagship event brought together a record-breaking number of industry leaders and investors across the private real estate landscape. “Palpable optimism” is the way Brasse described the feeling in the air. Listen as he relays the growing confidence among participants that the worst of the capital markets dislocation is over. The podcast reflects on key themes contributing to a positive mood, including the expectation of a rebound in transaction activity and the growing prevalence of core risk-return strategies. Development is also becoming a talking point. Listeners will also hear from Jesse Hom, chief investment officer of real assets and head of real estate credit at Blue Owl, who joined a panel discussing signs of a strong recovery in the market. But there were also notable degrees of skepticism, as Lee explains. Despite improving supply-demand dynamics, there are still uncertainties around long-term interest rates, rising inflation and government deficits, leading some to feel the industry is not yet out of the woods. Read also: PSP, La Caisse explore recalibration of property portfolios  

In this episode, host Greg Dool sits down with Jonathan Brasse, PERE's real estate editor-in-chief, for a deep dive into one of the biggest forces transforming the private markets landscape: manager consolidation. The discussion explores why private market managers across asset classes are acquiring or partnering with other businesses in a bid to scale up, and what that means for investors and the markets they serve. The conversation hinges on the release of PEI Group's Private Markets 2030, a series that takes a look at the major forces shaping the alternative assets industry. Listen as Dool and Brasse unpack the shifts fuelling consolidation. Among increasing demands for diversification and transparency, they focus on a major change in the sources of capital that support managers. For three decades, private markets have been fuelled by institutional investors. But as these institutions reach target allocations, two other sources of capital – private wealth and insurance capital – have emerged, with both the appetite for private market exposure and the means to access it.

In this special episode, the team explores how synthetic risk transfers, a financial tool used by banks to help them free up capacity for more lending, are growing in real estate. Join Real Estate Capital Europe editor Daniel Cunningham and deputy editor Lucy Scott as they discuss why an increasing number of real estate lenders – and real estate managers – are engaging in SRT trades, a topic also explored in REC Europe's deep dive here. This episode comes as Aareal Bank confirms its first SRT trade, linked to a €2 billion portfolio of performing European commercial real estate loans. Also read: Real Estate Capital Europe: Deep dive: How synthetic risk transfers are bringing banks and non-banks together

A multi-year slowdown in private real estate has prompted institutional investors to cut their average target allocation to the asset class for the first time in more than a decade. Is it merely a short-term setback for property fund managers, or a sign of a broader shift within institutional portfolios? The historic reversal reported by Hodes Weill & Associates this week comes after the capital advisory firm had found a steady increase in average target allocations since 2013, when it began tracking them with an annual survey in partnership with Cornell University’s Baker Program in Real Estate. But those gains plateaued starting in 2022, and this year’s 10-basis-point dip suggests that the market effects of high interest rates, geopolitical concerns and the rise of other attractive alternative asset classes are far from over. In this episode, PERE senior reporter Harrison Connery joins host Greg Dool to break down this year’s Allocations Monitor survey results, and contextualize the main takeaways. Hodes Weill co-founder Douglas Weill also shares his perspective on the results and what they might mean for private real estate fundraising moving forward.

This episode is sponsored by Bravo Capital The lending landscape is shifting, and private credit is taking center stage. In this episode, Bravo Capital founder and CEO Aaron Krawitz discusses how his firm is navigating a market defined by bank pullbacks, rising regulation and persistent demand for rental housing. Krawitz outlines where opportunities are emerging: ground-up multifamily construction, healthcare and skilled nursing facilities, and HUD-backed permanent financing. As traditional lenders retrench, these areas are seeing renewed activity from private lenders that can move quickly and tailor structures to complex projects. He also reflects on how Bravo has adapted since launching at the height of the pandemic, emphasizing the importance of a disciplined approach and alignment with investors through shifting market conditions. That ethos, he says, has supported a focus on quality borrowers, measured construction exposure and long-term partnerships over loan volume metrics. Across development financing, bridge loans and HUD takeouts, Bravo sees a broader trend in real estate credit: private lenders are leading the way with financings, even amid market uncertainty.

Blackstone emerged last month as the winner of a year-long takeover battle for UK industrial landlord Warehouse REIT after knocking out rival suitor Tritax Big Box with a £489 million ($656 million; €562 million) bid. But as it turns out, that was not the end of the Blackstone-Tritax saga. In a surprise twist this week, the rivals became partners when Blackstone announced an agreement to sell a £1 billion UK logistics portfolio to Tritax, just weeks after Tritax bowed out of its pursuit of Warehouse REIT. For an added level of intrigue, the deal reportedly involves both cash and Tritax stock, meaning Blackstone will hold an 8.6 percent stake in Tritax Big Box after the deal. What should the industry make of this sequence of events, and what does it suggest about US private real estate managers’ ongoing push into the UK-listed property market? This episode breaks it all down. Listen as host Greg Dool gets the latest from PERE Deals reporter Sarah Marx, who has covered the saga’s every turn, and PEI real estate editor-in-chief Jonathan Brasse, who offers his perspective on the affair and how it compares to a similar dalliance between Brookfield Asset Management and UK REIT Segro last year. Later in the episode, Marx sits down with Matthew Norris, head of real estate securities at London-based manager and REIT investor Gravis Capital, for his take on the story and the growing number of takeover battles between private equity and publicly listed REITs.

PERE and its affiliate Real Estate Capital Europe were on the ground at Expo Real in Munich this week, hosting panel discussions and holding more than a hundred meetings with senior executives from across the private real estate market. So this week, The PERE Podcast brings you an informed dispatch on one of the biggest talking points of the week: Europe’s rising prospects, based on an anticipated rise in defense and infrastructure investment. When NATO members pledged in June to spend as much as 5 percent of GDP annually on defense and critical infrastructure by 2035, private real estate market participants quickly began assessing the ways such spending could spur demand for real estate. These early insights were captured on prior episodes of The PERE Podcast this summer, which you can listen to here and here. This week, the topic is gaining momentum again, with managers and investors at Expo Real eager to share their perspectives on European real estate’s potential NATO uplift and the markets and sectors that stand to benefit most. But it remains early days, and these policy drivers could be subject to change. How likely is it that defense-related real estate will form an asset class in its own right? Is the opportunity being overstated? And what types of challenges could come with investing in such a sector? Listen as PEI real estate editor-in-chief Jonathan Brasse, PERE EMEA editor Charlotte D’Souza and Real Estate Capital Europe editor Daniel Cunningham talk to host Lucy Scott about what they heard in the halls of Expo Real this week. Then later in the episode, hear from Kevin Mofid, head of EMEA Industrial and Logistics Research at real estate services firm Savills, who takes listeners through the firm’s own calculations and why it predicts “substantial growth” on the horizon for industrial and logistics strategies.

The release of PERE’s annual Global Investor 100 ranking of private real estate’s top allocators comes with a somber headline for asset managers: For the first time in the ranking’s history, the world’s top 100 property investors saw their total allocation to the asset class decline from the year before. But that is far from the only intriguing takeaway from this year’s list. On this episode, we take a deep dive into the GI 100 as host Greg Dool sits with PERE’s EMEA editor Charlotte D’Souza to discuss shifts in the ranking among Asia-Pacific, European and North American investors, as well as different investor types, and what they suggest about the ongoing movement of capital in the asset class. We also hear from PERE editor Evelyn Lee about the market context behind these shifts and what participants can expect moving forward. Later in the episode, PEI Group real estate editor-in-chief Jonathan Brasse sits with Dimme Lucassen, managing director and head of the European real estate team at capital advisory firm Evercore, for his view on the findings, the outlook for real estate and the broader relationship between transaction markets and valuations.

This episode is sponsored by Cain International and Arrow Global After several years defined by rising rates and pricing uncertainty, Europe’s property market may be at an inflection point. Jay Patel, managing director at Arrow Global, and Arvi Luoma, who heads Cain International’s European investment committee, share perspectives on how capital is rebalancing toward the continent in this special episode. Patel notes that allocators from the US, Middle East and beyond are looking to Europe in ways they weren’t just a year ago, opening the door for both credit and equity strategies. Luoma, meanwhile, emphasizes that valuations appear to have bottomed and that green shoots are starting to show as financing conditions stabilize. The two also highlight where opportunities are clearest: Germany’s distressed construction projects, Southern Europe’s structural tourism boom, student housing, and continued undersupply in residential and hospitality. Data centers and logistics remain attractive, while ESG regulation – once seen as a hurdle – is increasingly embedded in business plans, shaping how new assets are built and old ones are repositioned. Taken together, their outlook is one of cautious optimism. Core capital is beginning to return, early movers are testing distressed opportunities, and Europe’s mix of stability, rule of law and long-term demand drivers are drawing greater global interest.

In this episode, the editorial team spotlights rising ambitions in real estate debt following news that QuadReal, the property arm of British Columbia’s public-sector pension scheme, plans to deploy £2.5 billion ($3.3 billion; €2.9 billion) into European real estate credit in the next five years through a newly launched direct lending platform. By the end of 2029, QuadReal aims to have between 10 and 20 percent of its global real estate debt exposure in the UK and continental Europe, to complement its North American credit platform. It is just the latest example of a North American manager broadening its ambitions to lend in Europe. Last week, Brookfield wrote its largest European real estate loan deal to date, providing £450 million to refinance two UK retail centers. KKR, meanwhile, plans to deploy a significant piece of the $850 million raised for its latest real estate credit fund to the continent, citing a “very compelling” lending opportunity there, affiliate Real Estate Capital Europe reported in March. Minnesota-based manager Castlelake is currently deploying €1 billion of designated real estate loan capital specifically bound for the Nordic region. What does this cross-border push suggest about institutional shifts within private real estate going forward? Listen as host Lucy Scott, deputy editor of REC Europe, is joined by Daniel Cunningham, REC Europe’s editor, and Silvia Saccardi, REC Europe's senior reporter, to discuss the trend and dig into the factors driving it. Stay tuned for additional perspective from London-based debt advisory business Art Capital’s Tim Vaughan and AJ Storton, who believe this increasing capital formation and deployment activity is underpinned by the rapid growth of back-leverage lending via US investment banks.

The private real estate market got a boost last week when the US Federal Reserve lowered its benchmark policy rate for the first time in nine months. It is a welcome shift for a property sector that has spent three years grappling with the consequences of higher-for-longer interest rates. But what are the immediate effects of a return to rate-cutting, and how does it alter forecasts for capital deployment and returns going forward? This episode breaks it all down, with reactions from across the equity and debt sides of the industry. Listen as host Greg Dool chats with PERE Deals editor Guelda Voien and PERE Credit deputy editor Randy Plavajka about the market context for the Fed’s shift and the key indicators for real estate investors in the months ahead. Later in the episode, we hear from Newmark’s managing director of global research, David Bitner, and head of commercial capital markets research, Joe Biasi, for their take on the news and the extent to which it alters the calculus for dealmaking and fundraising in the rest of 2025 and beyond.

In this episode, Patron Capital founder Keith Breslauer says the firm’s sale of a majority stake to Mitsubishi Estate Global Partners should be seen as a springboard for growth rather than an exit. Breslauer sat down with PERE’s Jonathan Brasse in August following the headline-grabbing sale of the Europe-focused firm to Mitsubishi Estate Global Partners, the investment management business of Japanese property giant Mitsubishi Estate. Listen to the wide-ranging interview in full, as Breslauer sets out how the business will evolve following that sale. “I didn’t do this to exit. I did this to grow,” he explained. Find out the rationale and opportunity behind Mitsubishi’s backing, which includes an initial €600 million equity injection, and how Patron will diversify as a result, taking it beyond its 25-year history in opportunistic equity investing. Among the initiatives discussed is the build-out of a private real estate debt platform, launched in April under the leadership of former CBRE executive Henry Randolph. Breslauer also highlights strong investor appetite for credit strategies but stresses the need to underwrite cautiously in volatile markets. Among the other topics floated during this episode is a potential collaboration with Europa Capital, another London-based manager acquired by Mitsubishi in 2010, and a willingness to contribute to Ukraine’s post-war reconstruction.

This week, The PERE Podcast breaks down the revelation that banking giant Morgan Stanley’s real estate arm has amassed a $900 million fund specifically targeting Japan’s real estate sector. The capital raise is notable not just for its size, which greatly exceeded its target of around $500 million, but for the strategic approach it represents as Morgan Stanley’s first country-specific real estate fund outside the US. Morgan Stanley is not alone among North American asset managers in its enthusiasm for the Japanese property market. In May, BGO closed a $4.6 billion Asian real estate fund – its largest fund ever – with 65 to 75 percent of the capital earmarked for Japan. In June, Los Angeles’ Ares Management closed a $2.4 billion fund focused entirely on Japanese data centers. These, along with the $4 billion raised for Hong Kong-based PAG’s Secured Capital Real Estate Partners VIII, which will be 70 percent deployed to Japan, were among the eight biggest real estate funds closed anywhere in the world in the first half of 2025. What is driving all of this capital formation? Listen as host Lucy Scott, PEI real estate editor-in-chief Jonathan Brasse and PERE editor Evelyn Lee discuss why international managers are seeking to deploy in the country, what this latest news means in the context of Morgan Stanley’s real estate history, and what it signals to the market about the firm’s evolution as a manager.

Offices are back in the spotlight this week on both sides of the Atlantic, and this episode explores some of the reasons behind the sector’s newfound momentum in both investor interest and lender appetite. Join host Greg Dool, Real Estate Capital Europe editor Daniel Cunningham and PERE Deals reporter McKenna Leavens as they discuss the latest developments, including Norges Bank Investment Management's acquisition of a Midtown Manhattan tower, a deal announced on Tuesday, as well as surging activity in London, where offices have featured prominently in a hotbed of financing deals in recent days. The episode also features expert analysis from Oliver Salmon, director of global capital markets at Savills World Research, who sat down with co-host Lucy Scott to discuss the driving factors behind renewed investor confidence in the office sector and what this could mean for non-prime office assets and locations.

This episode is sponsored by Arrow Global Germany’s property market is facing the highest insolvency rate in Europe. Years of cheap credit and rising prices encouraged aggressive development, but when interest rates jumped, buyers paused, sales collapsed and projects ran out of cash. The result: a wave of bankruptcies across the sector. However, in this episode, CEO of Arrow Global Germany Bernhard Hansen explains that there’s opportunity within this dislocation. Stalled projects and smaller developments are waiting for investors with the expertise and capital to finish them. With housing demand far outpacing supply, especially in cities like Munich, he believes there is still strong long-term potential. That potential of course comes with challenges: stricter sustainability rules, tougher financing conditions, and wary buyers mean projects take longer and require deeper due diligence. Yet Hansen is optimistic. International investors and alternative lenders are stepping in, and he says the correction is less of an ending, and more of a recalibration of Germany’s real estate market.

Blackstone is emerging as the victor of a months-long tussle for control of UK-listed investment trust Warehouse REIT – just the latest publicly traded industrial real estate firm to be snatched up by private equity over the past year. Indeed, private asset managers have been on a public-market tear in the sector, from Brookfield’s pursuit of UK warehouse owner Tritax EuroBox, to Starwood and Sixth Street’s take-private of Asian logistics giant ESR, to last week’s news that Sixth Street is advancing an unsolicited bid to acquire Boston-based Plymouth REIT and its 36 million-square-foot US warehouse portfolio. This episode spotlights this trend, including a recap from PERE Deals editor Guelda Voien of Blackstone’s on-again, off-again chase for Warehouse REIT, a look at Sixth Street’s emergence in the space, and broader analysis from PEI Group real estate editor-in-chief Jonathan Brasse and Principal Asset Management’s head of real estate research and strategy Rich Hill.

London-based asset managers Legal & General and Federated Hermes announced on Monday that the Federated Hermes Property Unit Trust had merged into the L&G Managed Property Fund, creating a single platform with a value of £4.7 billion ($6.3 billion; €5.3 billion). In this episode, the editorial team digs into the details of this story, which involves two of the oldest and largest open-ended property funds. Listen as we reflect on what the deal says about the evolution of the country’s pension schemes and their shifting preferences regarding private real estate. Despite both funds being long-established – the L&G MPF in 1971 and FHPUT in 1967 – a key difference between the two vehicles is the nature of their investor base. The majority of MPF’s investors are defined contribution pension schemes. With DC plans, members’ retirement income is determined by a combination of contributions and investment returns, while FHPUT comprises mostly defined benefit pension schemes, as well as local government pension schemes. Listen as Charlotte D'Souza and Joe Marsh join Lucy Scott to discuss how changes in the UK pensions landscape have shaped the opportunity. The team also explores how this merger – which is a rare event – was achieved. Plus, we'll hear from Michael Barrie, head of real estate, UK and Europe at L&G, who spoke to PERE soon after the announcement to explain the changing landscape for DB and DC schemes and how L&G has responded to it.

US fund managers have responded optimistically to president Donald Trump’s executive order last week aimed at allowing 401(k) and other defined-contribution retirement plans greater access to alternative investments, including private real estate. Carlyle Group is “super enthusiastic,” said its chief executive Harvey Schwartz, who also praised the move as “long overdue." Some managers, like Blue Owl Capital and Goldman Sachs Asset Management, have already been working to tap into this market with announcements in recent months of new initiatives aimed at including private assets in retirement plans. Despite the optimism, questions remain around the potential regulatory framework and guardrails, the overall appetite for private real estate equity and credit, where 401(k) capital might fit into real estate managers’ portfolios, and the types of products that will need to be created to capture it. This episode seeks to break down the possible answers, with perspectives from Samantha Rowan, editor of PERE Credit, and Bill Myers, Washington, DC correspondent for affiliate title Private Funds CFO. Later in the episode, we also hear from Hannah Schriner, managing principal at consultant Meketa Investment Group and head of the defined contribution practice group, for more on how real estate can fit into 401(k) plans and how fund managers can best position themselves to serve them. Also read: PE Hub: Apollo, Blackstone Carlyle, KKR enthusiastic about 401(k) plan executive order Private Funds CFO: In the Loop: Trump’s retail hard launch PERE Credit: Principal white paper makes the case for CRE debt A note from Meketa: The views and information discussed in this podcast are for informational and educational purposes only. They should not be considered, or relied upon, as financial, investment, tax, or legal advice. Listeners should consult with their own professional advisors before making any financial decisions. The opinions expressed by guests are their own and do not necessarily reflect the views of the hosts or affiliated organizations.

Launching a real estate fund management business in a historic market downturn is bold. Doing so as a woman in the Asia-Pacific region, where female-founded and private real estate managers remain exceedingly rare, is even bolder. “I’ve found that, especially in Asia, women tend to basically step back from the table,” says Angel Li, a former real estate executive at CLSA and Macquarie who became founding partner in her own management business, Avatar Capital Partners. Li joined The PERE Podcast for an in-depth interview fresh off the closing of Avatar's debut property fund targeting Japanese multifamily assets. But much of the candid discussion with PEI real estate editor-in-chief Jonathan Brasse centered on Li’s experience as a female founder, including overcoming self-doubt and trying to support other future women leaders. “I’m still having a lot of moments of doubt as a female founder, questioning [whether] I’m fast enough, smart enough,” Li says. “I would say it’s been an emotional marathon, a lot of ups and downs." Listen as Li describes Avatar’s inaugural fundraising journey, including the critical validation she felt in the fund’s first close and the ultimate triumph when the vehicle saw a final close last month, a year after launch, above-target and with the backing of investors including The Townsend Group and its long-term client National Pension Service of Korea “At that moment it felt like stepping onto more solid ground, with everything becoming very real,” she says. “It wasn’t just about validation, it was about realization. I might be a soft, small, tepid Asian girl, right? But at that moment I felt like I’m grounded and unstoppable.” Li’s advice to other female founders: Be yourself, embrace your emotions, celebrate others’ successes, and don’t be afraid to ask for help. “Asking for help, I think isn’t a weakness, but a sign of self-awareness,” she says. “It shows you recognize what you don’t know and that you're committed to growth through learning and collaboration.” Also read: Former CLSA executives raise $105m for NPS-backed debut fund Where are the female founders in private real estate?