Orchard Street Investment Management has won the mandate to manage £300m of the BBC pension fund’s property portfolio, EG can reveal.
The mandate, which represents a portion of the BBC pension fund’s £1.1bn property portfolio, starts at the end of June, and was previously managed by CBRE. The remainder will continue to be managed by CBRE.
The BBC is understood to be transferring the mandate to Orchard because CBRE’s long-term fund manager, Edward Luker, is stepping back. Luker, who has been with CBRE since 1982, is understood to be particularly well-regarded by the BBC.
The win will take Orchard Street’s assets under management to nearly £3bn.
The news follows Orchard Street’s announcement in April of plans to launch a special situations fund with GIC Real Estate, the property investment arm of the Government of Singapore Investment Corporation. The £200m fund will have a six-year lifespan, and aims to make 15 individual investments over the next two years.
Orchard Street’s UK Special Situations Fund, launched in 2008, also with GIC, has since invested £130m in UK real estate.
Last September, Orchard Street won mandates for the £626m SJP UK Property Fund and £184m SJP Authorised Property Unit Trust from St James Place. Both were previously managed by Invista.
The news of the BBC win comes at a time when mandates are scarce in the UK market.
“It’s a very dry fundraising landscape at the moment because economic instability is making both UK and international investors extremely cautious” one fund manager told EG.
sophia.furber@estatesgazette.com
