Skip to main content
MENU
Subscribe
  • Subscribe
  • Account
  • LOGIN
  • Topics
    • Alternatives
    • Consultants
    • Coronavirus
    • Courts
    • Defined Contribution
    • ESG
    • ETFs
    • Hedge Funds
    • Industry Voices
    • Investing
    • Money Management
    • Opinion
    • Partner Content
    • Pension Funds
    • Private Equity
    • Real Estate
    • Russia-Ukraine War
    • SECURE Act 2.0
    • Special Reports
    • White Papers
  • Rankings & Awards
    • 1,000 Largest Retirement Plans
    • Top-Performing Managers
    • Largest Money Managers
    • DC Money Managers
    • DC Record Keepers
    • Largest Hedge Fund Managers
    • World's Largest Retirement Funds
    • Best Places to Work in Money Management
    • Excellence & Innovation Awards
    • WPS Innovation Awards
    • Eddy Awards
  • ETFs
    • Latest ETF News
    • Fund Screener
    • Education Center
    • Equities
    • Fixed Income
    • Commodities
    • Actively Managed
    • Alternatives
    • ESG Rated
  • ESG
    • Latest ESG News
    • The Institutional Investor’s Guide to ESG Investing
    • ESG Sustainability - Gaining Momentum
    • Climate Change: The Inescapable Opportunity
    • Impact Investing
    • 2022 ESG Investing Conference
    • ESG Rated ETFs
  • Defined Contribution
    • Latest DC News
    • DC Money Manager Rankings
    • DC Record Keeper Rankings
    • Innovations in DC
    • Trends in DC: Focus on Retirement Income
    • 2022 Defined Contribution East Conference
    • 2022 DC Investment Lineup Conference
  • Searches & Hires
    • Latest Searches & Hires News
    • Searches & Hires Database
    • RFPs
  • Performance Data
    • P&I Research Center
    • Earnings Tracker
    • Endowment Returns Tracker
    • Corporate Pension Contribution Tracker
    • Pension Fund Returns Tracker
    • Pension Risk Transfer Database
    • Future of Investments Research Series
    • Charts & Infographics
    • Polls
  • Careers
  • Events
    • View All Conferences
    • View All Webinars
    • 2022 Retirement Income Conference
    • 2022 Managing Pension Risk & Liabilities
    • 2022 WorldPensionSummit
Breadcrumb
  1. Home
  2. Print
October 16, 2000 01:00 AM

SPECIAL EXPERTISE: AMB targets industrial at 20% to 25%

Guy Jaquier helps sharpen firm's focus after coming aboard earlier this year

Ricki Fulman
  • Tweet
  • Share
  • Share
  • Email
  • More
    Reprints Print

    SAN FRANCISCO - If Guy Jaquier, the new executive vice president and chief investment officer at AMB Property Corp. has his way, pension funds will double their allocations to the industrial property segment of their real estate portfolios. "The majority underweight industrial at 10% to 12%," Mr. Jaquier said in a recent interview. "We're targeting 20% to 25% to match its weighting in the NCREIF Property index."

    AMB's specialty is industrial real estate. Since Mr. Jaquier joined the San Francisco-based firm earlier this year, he has been working to sharpen that focus, he said. "Before we concentrated on large hub markets, markets we wouldn't necessarily choose today, such as Wilmington, Del., and Charlotte, N.C. We're refining that to move goods more efficiently." Now AMB is selecting locations in close proximity to ports, airports and freeways. The technical term is `high throughput distribution' properties - properties located in major distribution markets that benefit from their proximity to a large customer base.

    Mr. Jaquier is well-attuned to the way pension funds operate, after serving for the past two years as senior investment officer for real estate at the $177 billion California Public Employees' Retirement System, Sacramento, where he oversaw $8.5 billion in equity real estate and helped to restructure the real estate portfolio.

    He noted that many pension funds tend to hire multiple advisers to manage their real estate. Most of those managers do better with apartments and retail properties than with industrial, which requires special expertise. "It's hard to find good industrial properties," he said.

    AMB favors the industrial sector, which makes up 90% of its investments, because it's later in the real estate cycle. Since real estate bottomed seven years ago, the cycle is further into a recovery, Mr. Jaquier explained. Industrial does better in a down market and is more defensive than other sectors.

    "You can have triple net, longer leases, lower-tenant maintenance. (have re-worked this part after checking with Jaquier again). Revenues aren't dependent on customers showing up, as they are for hotels; or on retail sales, as they are for regional malls who charge rents based on sales. Warehouses can charge a fixed rent. They also benefit from low tenant improvement costs. "When a tenant moves out, you just hose the place down, whereas other types of real estate often require large capital improvements when tenants leave. The sector outperforms in a stabilized or a down market," said Mr. Jaquier.

    The firm has $4 billion in assets, plus another $500 million to $600 million in its investment management advisory unit. (All the money in the advisory unit is from pensions, foundations, endowments). AMB recently hired Sylvia Melikian to manage private real estate accounts for institutional investors. She previously held a similar position at UBS Brinson Realty Advisors, LLC, Hartford, Conn.

    And late last month, it closed its first institutional fund - AMB Institutional Alliance Fund I - at $400 million, which included a co-investment of $80 million from AMB.

    Investors in the fund include the $13 billion pension fund of CitiGroup; $2.2 billion endowment of the University of Chicago; $700 million Bush Foundation; and $4 billion John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.

    The fund's strategy is to acquire and develop industrial distribution centers in major U.S. cities. "We're catering to businesses that need to ship products quickly. We'll sell assets that don't fit that strategy and redeploy them into higher growth assets," Mr. Jaquier said. "We have outperformed our peers by focusing on the higher growth end of the business." For the 12 months ended Sept. 30, AMB's total return was 23.0%, compared with its benchmark, the Morgan Stanley REIT index, which rose 21.3% in the period.

    Currently AMB and the fund are concentrating on developing distribution facilities in six markets well-positioned to receive international cargo shipments by sea, air, rail or truck: New York's John F. Kennedy Airport; Atlanta; Chicago; Dallas; San Francisco/Oakland; and Los Angeles, to the port of Long Beach.

    Recommended for You
    Read the print edition of P&I
    Read the print edition of P&I
    How low is low? Projections say it's not low enough
    How low is low? Projections say it's not low enough
    FINRA honors Wharton's Olivia Mitchell with Ketchum Prize
    FINRA honors Wharton's Olivia Mitchell with Ketchum Prize
    SPDR® ETF’s New Approach to Bond Liquidity
    Sponsored Content: SPDR® ETF’s New Approach to Bond Liquidity

    Reader Poll

    June 6, 2022
    SEE MORE POLLS >
    Sponsored
    White Papers
    Nearing the finish line: Ideas on end-state investing for corporate DB plans
    The Meaning of "Portfolio Intelligence"
    Credit Indices: Closing the Fixed Income Evolutionary Gap
    Forever in Style: Benchmarking with the Morningstar® Broad Style Indexes℠
    Crossroads: Politics, Inflation, & Bonds
    Is there a mid-cap gap in your DC plan?
    View More
    Sponsored Content
    Partner Content
    The Industrialization of ESG Investment
    For institutional investors, ETFs can make meeting liquidity needs easier
    Gold: the most effective commodity investment
    2021 Investment Outlook | Investing Beyond the Pandemic: A Reset for Portfolios
    Ten ways retirement plan professionals add value to plan sponsors
    Gold: an efficient hedge
    View More
    E-MAIL NEWSLETTERS

    Sign up and get the best of News delivered straight to your email inbox, free of charge. Choose your news – we will deliver.

    Subscribe Today
    June 20, 2022 page one

    Get access to the news, research and analysis of events affecting the retirement and institutional money management businesses from a worldwide network of reporters and editors.

    Subscribe
    Connect With Us
    • RSS
    • Twitter
    • Facebook
    • LinkedIn

    Our Mission

    To consistently deliver news, research and analysis to the executives who manage the flow of funds in the institutional investment market.

    About Us

    Main Office
    685 Third Avenue
    Tenth Floor
    New York, NY 10017-4036

    Chicago Office
    130 E. Randolph St.
    Suite 3200
    Chicago, IL 60601

    Contact Us

    Careers at Crain

    About Pensions & Investments

     

    Advertising
    • Media Kit
    • P&I Content Solutions
    • P&I Careers | Post a Job
    • Reprints & Permissions
    Resources
    • Subscribe
    • Newsletters
    • FAQ
    • P&I Research Center
    • Site map
    • Staff Directory
    Legal
    • Privacy Policy
    • Terms and Conditions
    • Privacy Request
    Pensions & Investments
    Copyright © 1996-2022. Crain Communications, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
    • Topics
      • Alternatives
      • Consultants
      • Coronavirus
      • Courts
      • Defined Contribution
      • ESG
      • ETFs
      • Hedge Funds
      • Industry Voices
      • Investing
      • Money Management
      • Opinion
      • Partner Content
      • Pension Funds
      • Private Equity
      • Real Estate
      • Russia-Ukraine War
      • SECURE Act 2.0
      • Special Reports
      • White Papers
    • Rankings & Awards
      • 1,000 Largest Retirement Plans
      • Top-Performing Managers
      • Largest Money Managers
      • DC Money Managers
      • DC Record Keepers
      • Largest Hedge Fund Managers
      • World's Largest Retirement Funds
      • Best Places to Work in Money Management
      • Excellence & Innovation Awards
      • WPS Innovation Awards
      • Eddy Awards
    • ETFs
      • Latest ETF News
      • Fund Screener
      • Education Center
      • Equities
      • Fixed Income
      • Commodities
      • Actively Managed
      • Alternatives
      • ESG Rated
    • ESG
      • Latest ESG News
      • The Institutional Investor’s Guide to ESG Investing
      • ESG Sustainability - Gaining Momentum
      • Climate Change: The Inescapable Opportunity
      • Impact Investing
      • 2022 ESG Investing Conference
      • ESG Rated ETFs
    • Defined Contribution
      • Latest DC News
      • DC Money Manager Rankings
      • DC Record Keeper Rankings
      • Innovations in DC
      • Trends in DC: Focus on Retirement Income
      • 2022 Defined Contribution East Conference
      • 2022 DC Investment Lineup Conference
    • Searches & Hires
      • Latest Searches & Hires News
      • Searches & Hires Database
      • RFPs
    • Performance Data
      • P&I Research Center
      • Earnings Tracker
      • Endowment Returns Tracker
      • Corporate Pension Contribution Tracker
      • Pension Fund Returns Tracker
      • Pension Risk Transfer Database
      • Future of Investments Research Series
      • Charts & Infographics
      • Polls
    • Careers
    • Events
      • View All Conferences
      • View All Webinars
      • 2022 Retirement Income Conference
      • 2022 Managing Pension Risk & Liabilities
      • 2022 WorldPensionSummit