LaSalle says Asia assets could double in 3 years

By Eriko Amaha

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - LaSalle Investment Managers said its assets under management in Asia could double in the next three years and added it is considering investing in India for the first time. LaSalle Investment holds about $11 billion in Asia property assets under management, and plans to make $10 to $15 billion worth of deals in the next years.

"We have a very active business plan to grow in Asia," said David Edwards, LaSalle's investment strategist for Asia, at the Reuters Global Real Estate Summit in Singapore.

LaSalle Investment is a unit of real estate services firm Jones Lang LaSalle Inc (JLL.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz).

Edwards said some of the assets in closed-end funds could be sold but the overall size of assets could double in the next three years, saying "That would be in line with our targets."

It manages a Asia's first open-end fund which has grown to $2.3 billion of assets under management and also raised a $3 billion opportunistic fund last year. Edwards said this opportunistic fund would have $10 to 12 billion buying power with leverage.

"It's a market that is getting a lot more focus within our group," Edwards said.

For one, he said, pricing in some of the deals did not properly reflect the risks involved, but that has been improving.

Risks are also falling as local developers, which offer a great access to the market, are becoming more familiar with working with foreign players, he added.

"They understand the need for governance and for compliance with various codes. And they are much more willing to talk about giving away controls," Edwards.

Edwards said LaSalle, which has already invested in some warehouses in Japan, would continue to look in that sector still offers a lot of potential.

"We estimate that the volume of modern logistics facilities that are medium sized or larger is less than 6 percent of the total," he said. "We are very focused on that large-scale modern highly-efficient warehouse building."

LaSalle manages about $54 billion in assets including private real estate and property securities.

(For summit blog: summitnotebook.reuters.com/)

(Editing by Kim Coghill)