Jones Lang LaSalle unveils Secondary Market Bulletin trading platform

SMB is the first of its kind in Asia-Pac for unlisted real estate funds.

In a release, ones Lang LaSalle has launched a new trading platform for buyers and sellers of secondary interests in real estate funds. The new Secondary Market Bulletin (SMB) delivers a more efficient and transparent way to transact on the secondary market by providing a marketplace for unlisted real estate funds.

“The SMB is an evolution in the indirect real estate market, offering greater pricing transparency and improved liquidity to investors,” said Nick Crockett, Head of Corporate Finance – Asia-Pacific at Jones Lang LaSalle. “Authorised sellers stipulate pricing requirements and desired volume and match them with buyers looking to access product they may not have known was available.”

With its first deal already completed and over US$250m of secondaries available in the region, the SMB is attracting healthy interest from the investor community.

“In the last few years, there has been increased interest from investors to participate on the secondary market, largely due to a re-evaluation of their portfolios and desire for increased liquidity,” Nick said.

The launch of SMB comes at a time when the Asia-Pacific corporate finance markets are showing positive growth. Nick comments:

“There has been an increase in the corporate finance business especially in China and Japan due to capital constrained investors and developers seeking equity or high yield debt. Co-investments between passive capital and local operating partners across region have also grown. In addition, we are closing a number of mezzanine debt opportunities in Australia by matching Asian capital with local lenders. However the capital raising environment for funds is still expected to be slow for the rest of 2012, as investors remain cautious of the current economic environment or have difficulty finding the appropriate product.”

The SMB will be managed in the Asia-Pacific region by Sydney-based John Wills, Director of Corporate Finance who joined Jones Lang LaSalle in 2011 from Mercer. The Asia-Pacific team will work closely with their counterparts in Europe on global secondary opportunities as well as cross regional secondary transaction flows.

The European secondary market team, led by Ashley Marks in London, has already transacted over US$1bn of secondary market transactions in Europe and the US. With the addition of an Asia-Pacific platform, Jones Lang LaSalle can provide a truly global service.