The PERE Podcast

The rapidly institutionalizing industrial outdoor storage sector is back in the spotlight this week thanks to an agreement struck by Brookfield Asset Management to take real estate investment trust Peakstone Realty private for $1.2 billion in cash. The deal marks a dramatic return to the IOS space for Brookfield, which sold a portfolio of IOS properties it had aggregated in the US for $277 million a year ago, and highlights investors’ growing conviction for a hot subsector of the broader industrial market. With that mega-deal setting the tone, The PERE Podcast takes a deep dive into the industrial outdoor storage market – including the most basic question: What actually constitutes IOS? What is driving investors’ and fund managers’ aggressive pursuit of scale in the fragmented sector? And what do their varying approaches suggest about the outlook for the category? Host Greg Dool sits with PERE Credit deputy editor Randy Plavajka and PERE Deals reporter McKenna Leavens to discuss all of these questions and more. Later in the episode, we hear from Price Booker, chief investment officer at Maryland-based manager and industrial outdoor storage specialist Realterm, for his perspective on the risks, opportunities and growing investable market associated with IOS strategies. Citations: Brookfield takes Peakstone private in $1.2bn deal - PERE Deals Realterm reels in €470m for second European IOS fund - PERE

If you're a regular listener, tell us what you think. We are currently inviting feedback via this survey as we seek to improve our podcast output. We would love to hear your feedback on what you enjoy about these weekly episodes and to better understand what we can improve.  Show notes The oil-rich economies of the Middle East’s Gulf Cooperation Council have long been essential capital sources for private real estate managers, with the region well-represented among the largest institutional investors in the asset class globally. But for a growing number of firms, Middle-East real estate is now emerging as a destination for capital deployment too. On the latest episode of The PERE Podcast, we discuss how economic diversification, growth forecasts, regulatory reforms and relative isolation from tariff volatility have prompted several international asset managers to launch or commit to strategies targeting the region over the past year, including Gaw Capital, Blackstone, Brookfield Asset Management, SC Capital Partners and Rava Partners, among others. But investment in the region comes with its own unique risks, as exemplified this week by news that Saudi Arabia is scaling back previously outlined plans for several ambitious development projects, including the futuristic city known as 'The Line.' Do depressed oil prices, tightening liquidity conditions and continued geopolitical concerns represent a threat to these institutional plays targeting the region? Or are more firms likely to join the rush undeterred? Host Greg Dool sits with PERE’s EMEA editor Charlotte D’Souza and PEI Group’s real estate editor-in-chief Jonathan Brasse to break it all down. Later in the episode, Brasse sits down with Ghada Sousou, managing partner of executive search firm Sousou Partners, which last year formed a dedicated capital advisory business focused on connecting private fund managers with Saudi Arabian institutional capital. Further reading: PERE's Full-Year 2025 Fundraising Report PERE's Global Investor 100 ranking Saudi Arabia to scale back Neom megaproject - The Financial Times Blackstone forms $5bn Gulf logistics venture Gaw Capital's Middle Eastern promises Hillhouse's Rava debuts in Gulf with school platform

Net-lease strategies have long occupied a distinct niche of the broader commercial real estate market as a stable, low-risk, long-term inflation hedge. But after a string of billion-dollar deals involving some of the world’s largest private real estate firms, the net-lease sector is anything but boring. On this episode of The PERE Podcast, host Greg Dool sits with PEI’s real estate editor-in-chief Jonathan Brasse and PERE Deals reporter McKenna Leavens to discuss the latest high-profile capital formation event: a $1.5 billion logistics joint venture between Singaporean wealth fund GIC and Realty Income, the largest listed US net-lease REIT. Listen as the team discusses several unique aspects of the deal, including its role in the ongoing convergence of public and private real estate portfolios, as well as the precedent set by GIC’s previous push into the US net-lease sector with a $15 billion privatization of STORE Capital three years ago. We also shine a spotlight on net-lease strategies generally: what they are, how they work and why they are an area of growing conviction for private real estate investors. Later in the episode, we are joined by Scott Merkle, managing director at sale-leaseback and M&A advisory firm SLB Capital Advisors, who shares his own informed perspective on the net-lease sector and what market participants can expect there in the year ahead. If you're a regular listener, tell us what you think. We are currently inviting feedback via this survey as we seek to improve our podcast output. We would love to hear your feedback on what you enjoy about these weekly episodes and to better understand what we can improve. 

On this week’s episode, the team turns to the ultimate barometer for institutional appetites toward private real estate: fundraising volumes. The release of PERE’s full-year 2025 fundraising report earlier this week brought news of a long-awaited rebound in capital formation in the asset class after some challenging years. But what is really behind the recovery, and what does it suggest about where things are headed in 2026?  Listen in as host McKenna Leavens is joined by PERE editor Evelyn Lee and PERE Americas editor Greg Dool to break down the overarching takeaways – including that fundraising volumes climbed nearly 30 percent year on year to mark the first annual increase since 2021 – as well as some of the more complex stories beneath the year's big stories.   The episode explores the outsized role played by mega-managers, the resurgence of opportunistic strategies, divergent regional outlooks, the data center effect and why fundraising timelines continue to stretch to new record highs.  Later in the show, listeners will hear from Ryan Cotton, head of real estate at Boston-based Bain Capital, who has a fresh perspective on the topic after recently closing his firm’s third flagship real estate fund on $3.4 billion in commitments.  If you're a regular listener, tell us what you think. We are currently inviting feedback via this survey as we seek to improve our podcast output. We would love to hear your feedback on what you enjoy about these weekly episodes and to better understand what we can improve. 

For the year’s first episode of The PERE Podcast, the team lays out some of the major themes likely to impact the private equity real estate market over the next 12 months.   Join co-host Lucy Scott, PERE editor Evelyn Lee and PEI real estate editor-in-chief Jonathan Brasse as they look at how geopolitical turbulence continues to unsettle the real estate industry as its re-opens after the holiday break. The team also digs into how financial disruption caused by the bursting of an AI bubble could overshadow optimism. In addition, hear from David Steinbach, global chief investment officer at Hines, as he chats with co-host Greg Dool about his expectations for the year ahead, including his forecasts for dealmaking and capital deployment. If you're a regular listener, tell us what you think. We are currently inviting feedback via this survey as we seek to improve our podcast output. We would love to hear your feedback on what you enjoy about these weekly episodes and to better understand what we can improve. 

For the year’s final episode of The PERE Podcast – and the second installment of our two-part year-end series – the team is closing out 2025 with a look back at the investors, managers and themes that reshaped the private equity real estate market over the last 12 months.   Co-host McKenna Leavens is joined by PERE editor Evelyn Lee and PERE Deals editor Guelda Voien to unpack the biggest stories of 2025, from major M&A activity and headline-grabbing deals to the unique ways market participants found opportunities in a volatile and capital-constrained world.  The conversation explores the surprises that emerged as some sectors gained momentum and drove investors back into action, and the stories that resonated most with readers throughout 2025. The team also reflects on a milestone for PERE Deals, marking its first full year as a standalone publication, and its coverage of a noticeable pickup in capital deployment in the year’s second half.  Looking ahead, the editors share their perspectives on whether fundraising conditions are set to improve, the outlook for continued M&A activity and where investors are likely to place their bets as the calendar flips to 2026.  In case you missed it: Catch up on last week’s episode recapping the biggest themes in real estate debt here.

As the year draws to a close, we will spend the next two weeks breaking down the top private real estate headlines from 2025, as well as the trends that defined market activity. Next week, equity is in the spotlight. This week, the team is zeroing-in on debt, the engine room of the industry. Lucy Scott sits down with PEI real estate debt gurus Daniel Cunningham, editor of Real Estate Capital Europe, and Samantha Rowan, editor of PERE Credit, to discuss the best-read content of the year, the standout themes and their takes on what these stories tell us about the forces shaping the European and US credit markets. The team also give their insights on how these themes will play out in 2026. Will competition, a defining feature of the debt markets today, intensify? And if so, where will lenders go to deploy capital and find fresh ways to stay competitive? The team also breaks down the topic of back leverage lending – one of the biggest stories this year – and looks at how this theme might evolve as more lenders seek to use the tool in Europe.

Lending activity is ramping up in European real estate markets amid rising appetite from banks and alternative lenders alike – even as a limited number of investment deals to finance creates intense competition for opportunities. That is just one of the takeaways from affiliate title Real Estate Capital Europe’s annual Active Lenders report, an exclusive compendium of 64 of the continent’s busiest real estate debt providers through the year’s first three quarters. On this episode, host Greg Dool chats with Real Estate Capital Europe editor Daniel Cunningham and senior reporter Silvia Saccardi for a dive into the key findings, including the fact that this year’s list indicates a resurgence among traditional banks in addition to their alternative counterparts. Later in the episode, we hear directly from one of those Active Lenders, Leumi UK’s head of property finance Peter Clayton, for his perspective on the list and what it suggests about where the market is headed in 2026.

This episode discusses ICG’s retrenchment from Asia, following a line of western managers doing the same. We also speak to Gaw Capital, chairman of Goodwin Gaw, about his views on the current trend and the firm’s own renewed focus on the region. Last week, PERE revealed plans by Intermediate Capital Group to shut down its Asia real estate business. The London-based firm, which manages approximately $7 billion of real estate assets, only expanded into the region three years ago.   Its withdrawal follows a number of private real estate investment management businesses and investors announcing similar plans, a trend of deglobalization being driven by geopolitical forces. While this is occurring generally, the impact of deglobalization on Asia is especially pronounced. Other recent examples of western managers backing away from the east include AEW, which has halted its flagship regional fund series, and the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan, which has disbanded its Asia real estate team.   Discussing these issues with The PERE Podcast host Lucy Scott is PERE’s Asia senior reporter Christie Ou. Listen as they dissect the trend, starting with Ou’s reporting on ICG’s plans.   PERE’s editor-in-chief Jonathan Brasse also calls upon Goodwin Gaw, co-founder and chairman of Hong Kong-based private real estate manager Gaw Capital, to share his views.   He tells PERE: “The days of financial engineering trumping local knowledge are over”, adding how managers with deep local knowledge and presences are best equipped to prevail given how wider forces have reshaped the opportunities in private real estate markets. Gaw also reflects on his own firm’s decision to stop offering more institutional products in western markets as part of a strategy to retrench to Asia.

Transaction activity has at last been picking up in the private real estate market after a multi-year slowdown. But one area that has stayed consistently busy has been the dealmaking environment for property fund managers themselves. A string of deals dating back to last year has seen fundraisers band together to boost their assets under management, diversify their client offerings and seek to capture a greater share of capital from an increasingly disparate set of global investors and capital sources. One trend that has emerged of late has involved several manager stake sales that fit a similar paradigm: Large Japanese corporations, often with ties to the hefty investment arms of major insurance businesses, acquiring US- or Europe-based asset managers with sizeable real estate exposure. From last week’s PERE exclusive on insurer Tokio Marine buying a majority stake in US real estate debt fund manager ACORE Capital, to Mitsui Sumitomo announcing the purchase of an 18 percent stake in Barings, to Mitsubishi Estate buying a majority stake in London-based Patron Capital – a deal which officially closed in the last week – and multiple other deals this year, one thing is clear: Japanese buyers represent a cohort of investors with serious appetite for private asset managers with inroads in the Americas and Europe. Is it a trend? What is driving the activity? And what does it portend for the managers being acquired, the consolidators doing the acquiring, and those positioning themselves as the next targets? The latest episode of The PERE Podcast highlights several of these deals, with host Greg Dool in conversation with PERE editor Evelyn Lee and senior reporter Harrison Connery. Later in the episode, we also hear from Patron founder Keith Breslauer for an update on his firm’s transition to Mitsubishi ownership and whether the market can expect to see additional similar deals moving forward.

This episode is sponsored by Manulife Investment Management As new industries evolve and accelerate, new opportunities are constantly arising for institutional investors in the private real assets space. It isn’t always easy, however, for managers to grasp hold of these opportunities. As assets like data centers have become investable in recent years, managers have found that they need to devote time and effort to understand the dynamics around these unfamiliar assets. And the private markets industry has occasionally been guilty of obsessing over which labels to apply to emerging assets. This is the first episode of our Private Markets 2030 podcast miniseries, part of PEI Group’s wider initiative exploring how private markets are evolving as we enter the decade’s second half. Across the series, we unpack how managers can adapt, attract capital and deliver performance in an increasingly complex market. Joining us are three guests from Manulife Investment Management: Erin Patterson, global co-head of research and strategy; Maggie Coleman, the firm’s chief investment officer for real estate equity and co-head of global portfolio management; and John Anderson, global head of corporate finance and infrastructure. They discuss how multi-product managers have an advantage in expanding into new opportunity sets and argue that a multi-product approach offers obvious benefits around diversification, while allowing managers the flexibility to pivot into new opportunity sets.

A recurring theme in real estate private equity this year has been the proliferation of capital into so-called “niche” or alternative property types beyond the traditionally institutionalized sectors such as office, retail, industrial, multifamily residential or hotels. But while much attention has been paid to the emergence of segments including data centers, student accommodations or outdoor storage, another area of rising conviction among both institutional investors and their asset managers is affordable housing – particularly in the US, where mounting supply shortages have evolved into what most observers describe as a crisis. Increasingly, private market investors want to be a part of the solution, and a growing cohort of asset managers are devising ways to address the problem while also creating strong opportunities for risk-adjusted returns. On this episode, co-host Greg Dool is joined by PERE Credit editor Samantha Rowan and PERE Deals editor Guelda Voien for a look at why affordable housing is increasingly viewed as a strong match for institutional investment portfolios and the managers hoping to capture those allocations. We also hear from Alicia Glen, founder of New York-based private equity firm MSquared, which is currently raising its second impact-focused essential housing fund, in conversation with PERE Podcast co-host McKenna Leavens. Further reading: PERE: MSquared’s Glen: ‘We need to do things differently’ in affordable housing PERE: CIM Group holds first close on debut fund focused on US affordability crisis PERE Credit: Mamdani win underscores need for affordable, middle-income housing National Association of Realtors: First-time home buyer share falls to historic low of 21%, median age rises to 40 American South Capital Partners announces $60 million first close of its third affordable housing fund Federal Reserve Bank of New York: 2025 Case Study on Managers of Multifamily Affordable Housing Private Investment Vehicles

In this episode, host McKenna Leavens sits down with Jonathan Brasse, PERE editor-in-chief, and Evelyn Lee, PERE editor, to unpack the optimism circulating at PERE Network’s 20th annual America Forum, held earlier this week in New York City. The flagship event brought together a record-breaking number of industry leaders and investors across the private real estate landscape. “Palpable optimism” is the way Brasse described the feeling in the air. Listen as he relays the growing confidence among participants that the worst of the capital markets dislocation is over. The podcast reflects on key themes contributing to a positive mood, including the expectation of a rebound in transaction activity and the growing prevalence of core risk-return strategies. Development is also becoming a talking point. Listeners will also hear from Jesse Hom, chief investment officer of real assets and head of real estate credit at Blue Owl, who joined a panel discussing signs of a strong recovery in the market. But there were also notable degrees of skepticism, as Lee explains. Despite improving supply-demand dynamics, there are still uncertainties around long-term interest rates, rising inflation and government deficits, leading some to feel the industry is not yet out of the woods. Read also: PSP, La Caisse explore recalibration of property portfolios  

In this episode, host Greg Dool sits down with Jonathan Brasse, PERE's real estate editor-in-chief, for a deep dive into one of the biggest forces transforming the private markets landscape: manager consolidation. The discussion explores why private market managers across asset classes are acquiring or partnering with other businesses in a bid to scale up, and what that means for investors and the markets they serve. The conversation hinges on the release of PEI Group's Private Markets 2030, a series that takes a look at the major forces shaping the alternative assets industry. Listen as Dool and Brasse unpack the shifts fuelling consolidation. Among increasing demands for diversification and transparency, they focus on a major change in the sources of capital that support managers. For three decades, private markets have been fuelled by institutional investors. But as these institutions reach target allocations, two other sources of capital – private wealth and insurance capital – have emerged, with both the appetite for private market exposure and the means to access it.

In this special episode, the team explores how synthetic risk transfers, a financial tool used by banks to help them free up capacity for more lending, are growing in real estate. Join Real Estate Capital Europe editor Daniel Cunningham and deputy editor Lucy Scott as they discuss why an increasing number of real estate lenders – and real estate managers – are engaging in SRT trades, a topic also explored in REC Europe's deep dive here. This episode comes as Aareal Bank confirms its first SRT trade, linked to a €2 billion portfolio of performing European commercial real estate loans. Also read: Real Estate Capital Europe: Deep dive: How synthetic risk transfers are bringing banks and non-banks together

A multi-year slowdown in private real estate has prompted institutional investors to cut their average target allocation to the asset class for the first time in more than a decade. Is it merely a short-term setback for property fund managers, or a sign of a broader shift within institutional portfolios? The historic reversal reported by Hodes Weill & Associates this week comes after the capital advisory firm had found a steady increase in average target allocations since 2013, when it began tracking them with an annual survey in partnership with Cornell University’s Baker Program in Real Estate. But those gains plateaued starting in 2022, and this year’s 10-basis-point dip suggests that the market effects of high interest rates, geopolitical concerns and the rise of other attractive alternative asset classes are far from over. In this episode, PERE senior reporter Harrison Connery joins host Greg Dool to break down this year’s Allocations Monitor survey results, and contextualize the main takeaways. Hodes Weill co-founder Douglas Weill also shares his perspective on the results and what they might mean for private real estate fundraising moving forward.

This episode is sponsored by Bravo Capital The lending landscape is shifting, and private credit is taking center stage. In this episode, Bravo Capital founder and CEO Aaron Krawitz discusses how his firm is navigating a market defined by bank pullbacks, rising regulation and persistent demand for rental housing. Krawitz outlines where opportunities are emerging: ground-up multifamily construction, healthcare and skilled nursing facilities, and HUD-backed permanent financing. As traditional lenders retrench, these areas are seeing renewed activity from private lenders that can move quickly and tailor structures to complex projects. He also reflects on how Bravo has adapted since launching at the height of the pandemic, emphasizing the importance of a disciplined approach and alignment with investors through shifting market conditions. That ethos, he says, has supported a focus on quality borrowers, measured construction exposure and long-term partnerships over loan volume metrics. Across development financing, bridge loans and HUD takeouts, Bravo sees a broader trend in real estate credit: private lenders are leading the way with financings, even amid market uncertainty.

Blackstone emerged last month as the winner of a year-long takeover battle for UK industrial landlord Warehouse REIT after knocking out rival suitor Tritax Big Box with a £489 million ($656 million; €562 million) bid. But as it turns out, that was not the end of the Blackstone-Tritax saga. In a surprise twist this week, the rivals became partners when Blackstone announced an agreement to sell a £1 billion UK logistics portfolio to Tritax, just weeks after Tritax bowed out of its pursuit of Warehouse REIT. For an added level of intrigue, the deal reportedly involves both cash and Tritax stock, meaning Blackstone will hold an 8.6 percent stake in Tritax Big Box after the deal. What should the industry make of this sequence of events, and what does it suggest about US private real estate managers’ ongoing push into the UK-listed property market? This episode breaks it all down. Listen as host Greg Dool gets the latest from PERE Deals reporter Sarah Marx, who has covered the saga’s every turn, and PEI real estate editor-in-chief Jonathan Brasse, who offers his perspective on the affair and how it compares to a similar dalliance between Brookfield Asset Management and UK REIT Segro last year. Later in the episode, Marx sits down with Matthew Norris, head of real estate securities at London-based manager and REIT investor Gravis Capital, for his take on the story and the growing number of takeover battles between private equity and publicly listed REITs.

PERE and its affiliate Real Estate Capital Europe were on the ground at Expo Real in Munich this week, hosting panel discussions and holding more than a hundred meetings with senior executives from across the private real estate market. So this week, The PERE Podcast brings you an informed dispatch on one of the biggest talking points of the week: Europe’s rising prospects, based on an anticipated rise in defense and infrastructure investment. When NATO members pledged in June to spend as much as 5 percent of GDP annually on defense and critical infrastructure by 2035, private real estate market participants quickly began assessing the ways such spending could spur demand for real estate. These early insights were captured on prior episodes of The PERE Podcast this summer, which you can listen to here and here. This week, the topic is gaining momentum again, with managers and investors at Expo Real eager to share their perspectives on European real estate’s potential NATO uplift and the markets and sectors that stand to benefit most. But it remains early days, and these policy drivers could be subject to change. How likely is it that defense-related real estate will form an asset class in its own right? Is the opportunity being overstated? And what types of challenges could come with investing in such a sector? Listen as PEI real estate editor-in-chief Jonathan Brasse, PERE EMEA editor Charlotte D’Souza and Real Estate Capital Europe editor Daniel Cunningham talk to host Lucy Scott about what they heard in the halls of Expo Real this week. Then later in the episode, hear from Kevin Mofid, head of EMEA Industrial and Logistics Research at real estate services firm Savills, who takes listeners through the firm’s own calculations and why it predicts “substantial growth” on the horizon for industrial and logistics strategies.

The release of PERE’s annual Global Investor 100 ranking of private real estate’s top allocators comes with a somber headline for asset managers: For the first time in the ranking’s history, the world’s top 100 property investors saw their total allocation to the asset class decline from the year before. But that is far from the only intriguing takeaway from this year’s list. On this episode, we take a deep dive into the GI 100 as host Greg Dool sits with PERE’s EMEA editor Charlotte D’Souza to discuss shifts in the ranking among Asia-Pacific, European and North American investors, as well as different investor types, and what they suggest about the ongoing movement of capital in the asset class. We also hear from PERE editor Evelyn Lee about the market context behind these shifts and what participants can expect moving forward. Later in the episode, PEI Group real estate editor-in-chief Jonathan Brasse sits with Dimme Lucassen, managing director and head of the European real estate team at capital advisory firm Evercore, for his view on the findings, the outlook for real estate and the broader relationship between transaction markets and valuations.