Real estate investment manager LaSalle Investment Management has won a 750 million pound (US$1.24 billion) mandate from the Greater Manchester Pension Fund (GMPF), the largest local authority fund in the UK.
The mandate involves growing an existing balanced portfolio of commercial property in the UK, and will initially target assets of up to 75 million pound each. It one of the biggest to be awarded in the UK in real estate investment management in recent year and the latest win for LaSalle's UK business, which manages more than 10 billion pound of assets. LaSalle has US$50 billion in assets under management worldwide.
Alan Tripp, UK managing director of LaSalle, said: "We are absolutely delighted to have been chosen to manage this major portfolio. We look forward to a successful partnership ahead, building on LaSalle's track record in the UK with its existing relative-return mandates, which have outperformed over all time periods, whether you look at the figures over 1, 3, 5, 10 or 20 years."
Councillor Quinn, leader of Tameside Council and chair of GMPF, commented: "We are delighted to appoint LaSalle as the main property investment managers for GMPF following a comprehensive selection exercise, and have confidence in their ability to achieve the required investment returns for the Fund over the long term. This is a significant mandate which can rise up to 1 billion pound and we hope that LaSalle can make a significant long term contribution for the Fund's returns."