LIM Advisors plans Asia property fund

By Dominic Whiting

HONG KONG (Reuters) - Lim Advisors plans to launch an Asia property fund initially worth up to $200 million and probably listed on a European exchange, according to veteran Hong Kong property analyst Peter Churchouse, who will run it.

Speaking at the Reuters Wealth Management Summit in Hong Kong on Tuesday, Churchouse said the fund was mostly aimed at European family offices and private banks keen to invest in residential development and offices in Asia's thriving property markets.

Unlike during the Asian economic boom of the mid-1990s, developers have been holding back because they were badly burnt by the 1997-98 economic crisis, Churchouse said.

So most commercial markets are undersupplied, while residential supply is just meeting demand.

"Normally at this point in an economic recovery, you'd see cranes everywhere," he said. "But there's not a city out there where you can say there's massive oversupply. Maybe only in Beijing can you argue there's a supply bubble problem."

Tokyo and Singapore offices are the most attractive in the region, while commercial markets in Southeast Asian capitals Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur and Manila are also likely to rise, said Churchouse, who now runs two property securities hedge funds.

He hoped the new fund, which could be listed on London's Alternative Investment Market or in Dublin or Luxembourg, would grow to $1 billion in three to four years from an initial US$100 million to US$200 million. A term sheet for the fund is already out, and Churchouse has been talking to seed investors.

"It will have a fairly opportunistic approach and we'll look at value-add situations," he said. "There are lots of opportunities for smaller deal sizes, in the range of US$50 million, because the big funds just can't do that."  Continued...