Our approach to real estate equity

We bring together our research-led view on key thematic trends and deep understanding of local market dynamics across Europe. Investing with conviction and discipline, we aim to find value in the places where people want to live, work, play and learn and focus on long-term demand drivers and structural changes. We aim to create value for investors through active management throughout each asset’s lifecycle.

Our product suite aims to meet client needs across the risk spectrum. We can tailor our real estate equity solutions as part of broader multi-asset or multi-sector offerings, or they can be focused on specific thematic opportunities by sector or geography.  We seek to deliver alpha by leveraging our collective market insight into the inherently inefficient and cyclical nature of real estate.

Potential benefits of real estate equity

Real estate equity can create value to meet a variety of investment goals.

Value creation

We aim to enhance returns through asset repositioning, development and rigorous active management.

Illiquidity premium

The private nature of the asset class, together with the network needed to access it, typically commands an illiquidity premium.

Full risk spectrum

A wide array of solutions to meet a diverse set of investment objectives.

*ESG integration means the integration of ESG factors and consideration of sustainability risk as part of the investment decision making process. This process is applied beyond any specific binding constraints (in the objective or strategy of the fund as detailed in the prospectus or investment management agreement and in accordance with our Baseline Exclusions Policy). The investment manager retains discretion on decision making taking all risks into account, beyond any binding criteria.

Real estate equity strategies

Aviva Investors Real Estate Active LTAF (REALTAF)

REALTAF consists of an initial £1.5bn, strategically constructed portfolio of direct real estate assets seeded by Aviva UK Life. Actively managed and benchmark agnostic, the Fund strategy will be driven by a structural thematic approach and a long-term, demand-driven outlook. The Fund has been launched under the LTAF regime, enabling a broad range of Institutional and professional investors to access real assets investments more easily, whilst ensuring that the liquidity of the underlying assets is better aligned with that of the Fund.

View in fund centre Quarterly transaction report

Real estate equity team

  • Ben Sanderson

    Managing Director, Real Estate

  • Imogen Ebbs

    Head of UK Funds, Real Estate Equity

  • James Stevens

    Head of Investment – Global Real Estate

  • George Fraser-Harding

    Head of Pan-European Funds, Real Estate

    • Key risks of real estate equity strategies

    Investment risk

    The value of an investment and any income from it can go down as well as up and can fluctuate in response to changes in currency and exchange rates. Investors may not get back the original amount invested.

    Real estate risk

    Where funds are invested in real estate, investors may not be able to redeem any units in the fund when they want because real estate assets may not always be readily saleable. If this is the case, we may defer a request to switch or cash in shares or units.

    Valuation risk

    Certain assets held in the fund could, by nature, be hard to value or to sell at a desired time or at a price considered to be fair (especially in large quantities), and as a result their prices could be very volatile.

    Explore our private markets range

    Real estate

    Outcome-oriented solutions in real estate, across equity debt and long income, through strategies that span the risk spectrum, from lower-risk options generating long-term income to more opportunistic investments.

    Find out more  about Real estate

    Infrastructure

    Our deep market access allows us to source high-quality projects, delivered through a range of debt and equity opportunities. We focus on stable, long-term income generation and efficient execution. 

    Find out more  about Infrastructure

    Private debt

    We finance bespoke structured finance and senior private corporate debt transactions, seeking to meet a range of client outcomes.

    Find out more  about Private debt

    Real assets multi-asset

    Our integrated real asset platform allows us to collaborate with our clients to design bespoke multi-asset portfolios that meet a wide variety of long-term investment and return objectives.

    Find out more  about Real assets multi-asset

    Explore all funds

    Access key fund documentation and performance reports.

    View Fund Centre

    Need more information?

    For further information, please contact our investment sales team.

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    Real Assets Study 2024

    Demand remains strong, but the investment drivers are changing. At a time of macroeconomic uncertainty, real assets continue to play a significant role in the investment strategies of global institutions. The sixth edition of the Aviva Investors Real Assets Study is our biggest yet and seeks to answer some key questions. 

    Sign up here

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