Morgan Stanley raises $8 billion property fund

Our Corporate Bureau
21 June 2007

Mumbai: Morgan Stanley has raised an $8 billion in property fund, the biggest ever such fund, to invest in established global markets, including Japan and Europe as well as emerging countries such as China, India and Russia.

The Morgan Stanley Real Estate Fund VI, supplemented with borrowings, would have buying power of more than $30 billion, the US investment bank said in a statement.

Morgan Stanley has contributed 20 per cent of the new fund''s corpus.

Its portfolio would include real estate assets and companies from emerging markets including China, India, Russia, Turkey and Latin America, as well as developed markets including Japan, Western Europe and Australia, the statement added.

Morgan Stanley, which made a push into Asia''s property markets by snapping up distressed assets in Japan and China, has now moved into India by taking stakes in ambitious property developers.

Deals are getting bigger with the emergence of giant global property funds and private equity firms looking for new acquisitions. US private equity firm Blackstone raised $10 billion for real estate while Credit Suisse is planning a $2.5 billion property fund.