Bangkok--8 Jan--Asian Banker
Acquisition to Provide Analytics and Portfolio Management Expertise for a New Family of Real Estate Funds
Charles Schwab Investment Management (CSIM), the asset management arm of The Charles Schwab Corporation, announced that on Jan. 1st, 2007 it completed the acquisition of substantially all of the assets of Global Real Analytics, LLC (GRA). A San Francisco-based investment research and consulting firm, GRA is a leader in applied real estate analytics and commercial real estate index products. The GRA team will play an integral role in developing and managing a new set of real estate investment products that CSIM plans to add to its current suite of index, fixed income and actively-managed equity funds. GRA has a model-based approach to the evaluation of real estate securities, similar to that of Schwab Equity Ratings for stock selection.
"With approximately $2 trillion invested worldwide, commercial real estate securities represent an important sector for investors," said Evelyn Dilsaver, president and CEO of Charles Schwab Investment Management. "Global Real Analytics is a well-established firm with a solid track record. The capabilities they bring will provide Schwab with a unique advantage in delivering powerful real estate research, insights and investment choices to our clients."
GRA's property-based analytical models and proprietary real estate databases are used to evaluate REITs and other real estate companies in more than 50 countries. The company is known for its National Real Estate Index, which for 20 years has provided timely analysis of commercial real estate trends in U.S. metropolitan markets.
"We are immensely excited to be joining Charles Schwab Investment Management and look forward to helping CSIM develop best-in-class real estate investment products," said James Sempere, previously GRA's chief operating officer and now CSIM's head of real estate investment and research. Other GRA senior managers joining CSIM include Daniel O'Connor, Lawrence Souza, Dionisio Meneses, and David Siopack.
Last month, CSIM filed a registration statement for a new real estate offering, the Schwab Global Real Estate Fund. GRA's proprietary database and investment model will be used by the investment adviser to help select the fund's investments.
--www.theasianbanker.com (January 08 2007)--