HARTFORD, Conn. -- UBS Brinson has signed an agreement to acquire Allegis Realty Investors LLC, an institutional real estate investment management firm with $5.9 billion in assets. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
TA Associates Inc., a private equity firm in Boston, is the majority owner; Allegis' senior management also owns a stake. Allegis was spun off three years ago from Aetna Life & Casualty Insurance Co.
Allegis' operations will be merged with UBS Brinson's smaller $3.2 billion of real estate assets under management for offshore investors. The combined real estate organization will be based in Hartford, Allegis' home, with major offices in New York, Dallas and San Francisco.
Allegis President James W. O'Keefe will head the operation and report directly to Gary Brinson, chairman and chief investment officer of Chicago-based UBS Brinson, with $362 billion under management.
"It now gives us a very solid, complete platform in terms of offering real estate investments to our clients," said Mr. Brinson.
"That was the missing piece. If you look at the asset class array we offer institutional clients, one area that was conspicuously missing was U.S. real estate," he added.
"We can look at our portfolio in a worldwide context now," said Mr. O'Keefe. "From the point of view of our organization it makes a lot of sense. Brinson has a big client base we can access."
He also pointed out that officials of Brinson's international timber program now will report to him. The program just won a mandate to work on an international timber investment program with the $160 billion California Public Employees' Retirement System, Sacramento.
Allegis offers commingled funds and separately managed portfolios. Its clients are mainly corporate and public pension funds. Thomas Anathan, managing director of Allegis, said the firm has approximately 100 "large fund" clients, which have $10 million or more each invested with the firm.
