ASIA

In China:

• Most major product groups grew, except for mobile handsets and textiles, further solidifying China’s robust recovery from COVID.

In Japan:

• The government raised its alert for the strain on the medical system to the highest of four levels and experts warned of serious consequences if the current trends did not reverse course soon.

REIT Focus:

Keppel launched a second data center fund, which will focus on investing in fast-growing data center sector in Asia Pacific and Europe. The Fund will be called Keppel Data Centre Fund II and has a target size of $1B.

Europe

In Europe:

• Of note, Germany continued to experience a strong expansion in manufacturing, but the services sector continued to contract amid coronavirus mitigation measures.

• The BoE highlighted reduced downside risks to the outlook, thanks to recent positive vaccine developments, but did underline ongoing uncertainty.

REIT Focus:

Is has been a challenging year for many office property companies since the start of the pandemic which caused many companies to rapidly shift to a work from home (WFH) model when restrictions were first implemented last March. While tenants have slowly returned to the office, the return thus far has been more limited given that we continue to face many headwinds from the pandemic.  Many tenants are considering having more of hybrid model after the pandemic that allows employees to both WFH and in the office. Paris focused Gecina reported some positive news this week on both the leasing and investment sales front as the year comes to a close. First it announced the sale of five non-core office buildings outside the periphery of Paris for €112 mn, a slight premium to their last reported appraised values in December 2019. Secondly, Gecina announced the renewal of two leases with the Orange Group totaling over 50,000 sq m (538k sf). One lease for 44,000 sq m was for a new 12-year term and the other for 6,500 sq mn was for a 6-year term. Leasing volume around the globe has been much more subdued during the pandemic as many tenants have delayed making long term commitments until the pandemic has passed and they have better visibility on their long term office space needs, so it was good news for Gecina to have the Orange Group make a longer term lease commitment. With both leases in buildings outside of the Paris city center, perhaps both will be disposal candidates in 2021 given Gecina’s ambition to be increasingly concentrated in Paris and its periphery.   

North America

In the U.S.:

• The package is expected to come in at ~$900B and feature $600 stimulus checks, $300 a week of additional unemployment benefits and ~$325B for small businesses. Billions in funding for vaccine distribution, education and healthcare are also expected to be part of the package.

• until it achieves “substantial further progress” towards its dual mandate goals of maximum employment and price stability.

REIT Focus

Rexford Industrial Realty, Inc. (REXR) announced the acquisition of a six-building industrial portfolio for $93.8M and the acquisition of an industrial outdoor storage yard for $16.8M. The acquisitions were funded using cash on hand.

The views expressed in this update are as of the date of this blog entry. These views and any portfolio holdings discussed in the update are subject to change at any time based on market or other conditions. The adviser disclaims any duty to update these views, which may not be relied upon as investment advice. In addition, references to specific companies’ securities should not be regarded as investment recommendations or indicative of the Adelante products, strategies, or portfolios.