This fund is used within our Harmonic portfolios and represents between 2-4% of the spread within them.
Schroder Global Cities Real Estate fund was launched in December 2005 and has a fund size of over £1,805 million across 61 holdings. It has a 5-year annualised return of 6.29%.
The fund is actively managed and invests at least 80% of its assets in equities of real estate companies worldwide which generate the majority of their earnings from real estate investment related activities. The fund seeks exposure to companies that invest in cities that the investment manager believes will exhibit continued economic growth, supported by factors such as strong infrastructure and supportive planning regimes.
Within the top ten holdings you will see exposure to:
Prologis Inc – representing 6.9% of the fund – is a real estate investment trust headquartered in San Francisco, California, that invests in warehouses. The company was formed through the merger of AMB Property Corporation and ProLogis in June 2011, which made Prologis the largest industrial real estate company in the world. As of December 31, 2020, the company owned 4,703 buildings comprising 984 million square feet in 19 countries in North America, Latin America, Europe, and Asia. According to The Economist, its business strategy is focused on warehouses that are located close to huge urban areas where land is scarce.
Equinix Inc – representing 4.6% of the fund – is an American multinational company headquartered in Redwood City, California, that specialises in Internet connection and data centres. Founded in 1998, the company is now a leader in global re market share, with 240 data centres in 27 countries on five continents. It has approximately 11,000 employees globally.
In 2016, Equinix purchase the British company TelecityGroup, the largest acquisition in company history in a transaction valued at approximately $3.8 billion. In March 2022, Equinix expanded into Chile and Peru with $705 million acquisition of 4 Data Centres from Entel.
Public Storage – representing 4% of the fund – is an American international self-storage company headquartered in Glendale, California, that is run as a real estate investment trust (REIT). It is the largest brand of self-storage services in the US. There are more than 2,200 Public Storage self-storage locations in the US, Canada and Europe. It also owns 42 percent of an office parks subsidiary, sells packing supplies, and provides other services.
The idea for Public Storage was conceived by Southern California real estate developer B. Wayne Hughes in the early 1970s. The first warehouse was built in 1972 in California where it subsequently grew to 1,000 locations by 1989, using funding from investors.
The contents of a storage unit are put up for auction if the rental fees are not paid for sixty days, which has been shown on the TV show Storage Wars. This increased interest in the auctions, although most units do not contain anything of substantial economic value.