The PERE Podcast

'It's an alpha trade': Private equity comes for logistics REITs

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.

Inside a landmark £4.7bn UK property fund merger

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.

'Those just starting are behind': Private real estate eyes a 401(k) windfall

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.

Female founder Angel Li: ’At that moment I felt unstoppable’

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?

Surviving in '25: Real estate finds opportunities in a trade war

As a wave of newly imposed US tariffs arrive to test the global economy this week, real estate investors, managers and lenders are left to grapple with the short- and long-term implications for their strategies.

Are tough times ahead for logistics? Is there an upside to rising construction costs? Are interest rate cuts still on the table? How are real estate market participants making sense of it all? A new episode is here to break it down, with perspectives from across the private real estate sector, including from guest Chris Caton, managing director of global strategy and analytics at industrial giant Prologis.

Also joining the episode are PERE Deals editor Guelda Voien and PERE Credit senior reporter Shihao Feng, with fresh insight on how dealmakers are reacting and how ongoing uncertainty is impacting lending markets.

Also read: Exclusive: UCLA survey tracks expected California construction decline

Hines’ Steinbach: ‘I see private wealth being 50% of our business’

Since Houston-based developer-turned-investment manager Hines started raising and deploying third-party capital, the majority has come from institutional sources. That is changing rapidly. Indeed, according to the firm’s global chief investment officer, David Steinbach, as much as 50 percent of its capital is expected to come via private wealth channels within five years.

Steinbach makes this bold prediction in an interview with PERE’s editor-in-chief, Jonathan Brasse, captured for this special episode of The PERE Podcast.

He spoke to PERE just days before Hines announced the hiring of Hao Zhan, most recently head of Asia for the Carlyle Group’s Global Wealth division, as head of Asia for its own Private Wealth Solutions business, and just days after a regulatory filing revealed that its public, non-traded real estate investment trust, Hines Global Income Trust, had passed the $5 billion mark in terms of net asset value.

Steinbach sees the Trust remaining an important offering for private wealth investors, but he also explores how products for this increasingly coveted cohort of investors are only proliferating. That will bring its challenges, Steinbach explains in this 10-minute episode, but also huge opportunities for vehicle innovation for firms like Hines and others.

Investor allocations: 'No longer' on an upwards trajectory

This week PERE published its latest investor report, with figures for the first half of 2025 providing key insights into the private equity real estate investor environment.

In this episode, we discuss the standout finding: Investor allocations to private equity real estate pulled back overall during the period, with most investor types lowering their exposures to the asset class. Meanwhile, some of the most active known investors in real estate funds dropped out of the rankings completely and a handful of the biggest real estate managers only scored one investor check each.

Listen as Charlotte D'Souza and Samantha Rowan sit down with Lucy Scott to breakdown the report, discussing what has changed in the investor universe in these past six months, why it has changed and whether the figures tell managers anything about what is to come for fundraising in the coming months.

Starwood, Brookfield and real estate’s net-lease boom

Starwood Property Trust’s $2.2 billion purchase of Fundamental Income Properties – a 467-asset, US sale-leaseback platform established by Brookfield five years ago – is just the latest example of real estate managers’ insatiable appetite for net-lease strategies.

Given the promise of long-term, resilient and predictable income typically associated with these portfolios, it is not difficult to see why. But how does momentum for net-lease fit into the bigger picture as private real estate market participants adapt to a changing market?

This episode dives into that very question, bringing together PERE Deals editor Guelda Voien, PERE Credit editor Samantha Rowan, PEI real estate editor-in-chief Jonathan Brasse and host Greg Dool to analyze not only this latest blockbuster deal, but what it suggests about the types of defensive strategies investors and their asset managers are embracing in an uncertain environment.

Also joining the program is Josh Shandell, a senior vice-president at Brookfield who played a key role in Fundamental Income Properties’ formation and its sale to Starwood, to share the mega-manager’s view on net-lease investments – and why this $2.2 billion exit is by no means the last we will hear from Brookfield in the space.

Read more about Starwood’s push into the sector in PERE Deals (registration required).