Real estate investment firm Delancey has expanded its mandate with one of the UK’s largest corporate defined benefit pension schemes, providing up to £400 million of additional investment capacity for UK real estate. The additional value-add commitment takes the mandate size to just under £1bn, following three years of outperformance against the MSCI Quarterly Property Index.
The discretionary capital is available for immediate deployment and will target value-add, sector-agnostic opportunities, complementing the existing portfolio.
The further investment is an endorsement of Delancey’s success in repositioning and right-sizing the portfolio since taking over in December 2022. Delancey has utilised its ‘Proactive Core’ approach – a differentiated approach to managing core portfolios underpinned by its belief that core real estate assets don’t have to be managed passively.
This approach delivers improved performance without increasing risk, and is anchored by five pillars:
- Conviction investing
- Active asset management
- Sell discipline
- Bespoke structuring
- Robust ESG overlay
Since taking over management of the core portfolio, Delancey has delivered strong outcomes for scheme members through sustained outperformance, reduced arrears, improved environmental performance, the successful resolution of fire remediation issues, and a systematic reduction in portfolio operating expenses.
Dan Berger, Chief Investment Officer, at Delancey said:
“We measure ourselves by whether we deliver what our client set out to achieve. They backed our ‘Proactive Core’ approach to revitalise their portfolio in 2022, and subsequently we’ve delivered three years of outperformance against the MSCI Quarterly Property Index. The decision to provide a further £400 million of investment capacity is a strong endorsement of that progress. Our focus now is on deploying that capital responsibly and delivering the same level of performance and service on behalf of the scheme’s members.”
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