Britain's Legal & General joins up with Ancora for U.S. life sciences real estate
25/05/2022 24:01
LONDON, May 25 (Reuters) - British insurer Legal & General
LGEN. has formed a 50:50 partnership with U.S. developer
Ancora to invest in U.S. life sciences and technology real
estate in the first U.S. investment by its alternative assets
arm, the insurer said on Wednesday.
Legal & General will invest an initial $500 million through
the new company Ancora L&G, with plans to bring investment up to
$4 billion over the next five years, it said in a statement.
The COVID-19 pandemic has spurred interest in real estate in
life sciences, which spans sectors such as biomedical devices
and pharmaceuticals. urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL8N2LK22S
More recently, the war in Ukraine and its impact on supply
chains and inflation has marred the global economic outlook.
But demand will remain for life sciences real estate, said
Laura Mason, CEO of L&G's alternative assets arm Legal & General
Capital, helped by a shortage of laboratory space.
"We recognise there may be ups and downs which we will have
to manage very carefully, it may be that we are a little bit
slower to start than we had hoped," she said.
"We think these sectors are here for the long term."
L&G Capital already has similar investments in British
university cities Oxford and Manchester. Ancora is based in
Durham, North Carolina, and has staff in cities including
Chicago, New York and Washington.
The joint venture company will be run by Ancora CEO Josh
Parker.
Mason said the insurer would look for co-investors in the
new company's assets from among L&G's institutional investor
base. Legal & General manages over $1.8 trillion in assets.
L&G is also considering expanding into other sectors in the
United States, Mason said, mirroring its investments in Britain
such as in housing and climate transition.
($1 = 0.7994 pounds)
(Reporting by Carolyn Cohn
Editing by Mark Potter)
((carolyn.cohn@thomsonreuters.com; 44 207 513 4391;))