Post-pandemic opportunities arise for Portuguese fund

Pedro Coelho, chairman of Square Asset Management which runs the biggest open-ended fund in Portugal, said that while the first lockdown initially had a negative effect there has been a gradual improvement.

Speaking to Real Asset Insight’s Richard Betts, he said that having ended 2019 with €763 million, by year-end 2020 the fund stood at €835m, a €72 million (9%) net increase. “Which I would say, for an open ended fund, is not that bad,” Coelho added. By end-February 2021 the fund was up to €850 million a further 2% improvement on an absolute basis.

When it comes to deployment of the capital raised, Coelho said that in Portugal the best core and core-plus opportunities include offices and logistics, while more value-add, opportunistic assets would encompass hotels and tourism-linked assets such as high-street retail in the best locations. Many of these are currently closed owing to the pandemic, tenants may not be paying the rent and some landlords are experiencing problems, “so I think there are going to be some transactions in this area.”

Click on the video above to watch the full interview or listen to the podcast below.

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