Wealth & Finance International - Fund Awards 2015

www.wealthandfinance-intl.com 43 Charter Hall Group Best Unlisted Property Fund - Charter Hall Direct Office Fund (DOF) Charter Hall Group is one of Australia’s leading fully integrated property groups with over 23 years’ experience managing high quality property on behalf of institutional, wholesale and retail clients. Charter Hall has over $14.5 billion of funds under management, and their funds own over 275 real estate assets across the Australian office, retail, industrial and hospitality sectors. We align our interests by co-investing in our managed funds, investing close to $1 billion alongside our investors. Charter Hall has ranked as one the highest performing A-REITs in the ASX 200 Property Accumula- tion Index over three and five years with a total security holder return of 32.9% and 20.9% per annum respectively. Charter Hall Direct, part of Charter Hall Group, has a strong track record managing unlisted property funds and syndicates since 1995 for retail investors, including self-managed super funds (SMSFs) and high net worth individuals. Our products are consistently highly rated by external research groups and we are Australia’s leading direct property fund manager, with $2 billion of real estate assets under management. Furthermore, we are the market leading fund manager in the direct property sector. Our integrated business model, coupled with our highly skilled and motivated team, produces sustainable returns for our investors and positive experiences for our tenants, our people and the community. We invest in our people and our business so it is the place for people in property and to develop innovative, award winning investment vehicles that deliver exceptional results over the long term. We believe the passion and vitality of our people and their ability to build long-term, trusted relationships with investors, tenants and communities is fundamental to the sustainability of our business, and we want to support and empower our people to perform to their potential. We believe Charter Hall is unique for various reasons, including: • We are Australia’s largest third-party manager of both office space and supermarket-anchored retail centres, and second largest in industrial properties. • The scale of our business ensures we see all property opportuni- ties that are being sold on or off market. • We have specialist property expertise to access, deploy and man- age assets in the office, retail, industrial and hospitality sectors. • We have a vertically integrated model including fund, asset and property management with a national approach to tenant relation- ship management. • Our highly skilled, motivated and local team have diverse expertise across property sectors and risk-return profiles. • Our income streams are from real properties, and are secured by long leases to tenants with fixed annual rental increases. • Our direct funds have lower volatility than, and low correlation with, the listed equities market, which reduces the overall risk po- tential for an investor’s portfolio when direct property is included. • The alignment of interest with our investor base is evident by the co-investment in our funds by Charter Hall Group and its manage- ment teams. • We have best practice of corporate governance, including inde- pendent boards. In terms of the award, we are delighted to have won the ‘Best Unlisted Property Fund’ for our Direct Office Fund (DOF). DOF is an actively managed office fund with a high quality core office portfolio valued at circa $700 million. We are seeking to acquire additional assets and manage a diversified portfolio of up to $800 million of quality Austra- lian office properties. Over 80% of the current portfolio is located in Australia’s two largest office markets, Sydney and Melbourne, which are forecast to be the strongest performing Australian office markets over the medium term. Our strong track record is demonstrated by our funds consistently beating their benchmark. Charter Hall Direct’s Investment Fund series average return of 14.8% over seventeen years and 5% above its bench- marks. DOF itself achieved a 32.0% total return in the previous 12 months, which compares favourably to the benchmark return of 10.0% over the same period. Over a 5 year period DOF achieved a 15.0% total return, compared to the benchmark return of 9.7%. It is great that this award recognises the role the property funds man- agement industry plays in building the wealth for investors. We think that the advantages of commercial property investment (via a direct or unlisted property fund) is under reported and awards like this help to in- crease awareness in the investing public. Advantages to direct property investment include the potential for capital growth over the long term, and it can provide an attractive income return relative to cash and fixed interest. In an increasingly global economy, the opportunity for overseas investors to invest into DOF and gain access to Australian commercial property fund, can be an attractive tax effective option. At present, the capital market environment is very conducive for invest- ment in high quality Australian commercial property assets. Charter Hall remains in a strong position to continue to access, deploy and manage capital invested in Australian commercial property and we are well placed to deliver sustainable and growing returns for investors.