Pictet alternative advisors adds direct real estate investment strategy

Pictet Alternative Advisors, Pictet Group’s wholly owned alternative investment company, is adding a direct real estate fund to its range of alternative strategies.

The real estate fund will invest in European real estate assets and related companies across the full range of property sectors, including offices, residential, light industrial and student and senior citizen accommodation. It will focus on the mid-sized market segment, targeting investments in smart gateway cities in Western Europe. The new real estate strategies will be managed by a 14-person team at Pictet Alternative Advisors, led by Zsolt Kohalmi, who has joined Pictet from Starwood Capital. The fund will also be supported by Pictet’s real estate country heads in the UK, Germany Sweden, Spain, Luxembourg and Switzerland.

Kohalmi commented on the fund: “Europe, on a risk-adjusted basis, remains a compelling investment opportunity in real estate. Asia has record low cap rates, translating to record high capital values, and the US is far along in the cycle, and has a higher interest rate environment that may eventually lead to cap rate expansion. Volatility in certain European markets over the coming years, for example in the UK due to Brexit, will lead to a variety of entry point opportunities, hence the importance of a local presence in our six offices to get the ‘first call’ for transactions.”