Korea Teachers Pension commits to LaSalle fund

Institutional investors from Korea and Japan are, for the first time, investing in LaSalle Investment Management’s latest U.S. value-add real estate fund, LaSalle Income & Growth Fund VII. Korea Teachers Pension has committed $50 million to the global real estate investment manager’s U.S. flagship value-add, closed-end real estate fund series, alongside a Japanese institutional investor.

“We have a strong track record working with Korean institutional investors who have, over the last four years, committed more than $2 billion equity to a number of LaSalle’s vehicles globally,” said JB Park, head of client capital group, Korea, LaSalle Investment Management. “We increasingly see them move up the risk curve and diversify their real estate portfolios into more value-add and opportunistic strategies. With our deep understanding of the U.S. market and long experience in this strategy, I believe the fund is well placed to meet the demand from Asian institutional investors seeking higher risk and stronger return generating assets.”

The fund, which is only available to institutional investors in Asia, follows its predecessors’ value-add strategy, through its approach to acquire under-managed, under-capitalized, or mispriced assets to be repositioned as core assets. Property-level investment strategies include lease-up, renovation/repositioning and ground-up development across the office, retail, industrial and multifamily residential market segments throughout the United States.

This year, LaSalle Income & Growth Fund VII acquired 123 N. Wacker Drive, a 30-story, class A office tower located in Chicago’s West Loop. The price was reported as $147 million, according to published reports. In March, the fund acquired an interest in 10 Post Office, a 14-story office building located in the center of Boston’s central business district, recapitalizing a joint venture with Synergy Investments, which will continue to act as operating partner.