ARA Asset Management CEO Talk

I just attended CEO talk with ARA Asset Management - John Lim and his team during lunch hour. Some of the points that I would like to share with you are:

• Its target is to be "Premier Integrated Real Estate Fund Manager in Asia"
• 6 REITs under management
• No redemption risk (fees are locked in for the life of the Private fund)
• Underlying Income is packed to real estate and no redemption risk
• Sources are from: Recurring Income & Acquisition 

• Just launched Hui Xian REIT (RMB denominated equity offering in the world) 29 Apr 2011. 
• CAGR of AUM = S$18.8Billion (61% CAGR)
• focus more on China 
• Partnership with Cheung Kong group, CaLPERS, TRS, CWT, AmInvestment Group Bhd, Citic Bank
• Performance (IRR => Cacheo Logistics Trust 15.6%)
• Shareholdings

• - John Lim 37%
• - Cheung Kong Group - 16%
• - Institutional Investor - 37%
• - Retail Investor - 10%

• - 1H2011Result -> net profit > 18% to 29.86m

• - 4.8 dps / 134c => about 3.5% dividend yield 

• Strategy
• - REITs
• - Private funds
• - RE Mgmt Services
• - M&A
• Fees is not affected by REITs valuation
• Valuation model => Market Price / AUM
• Growth as long as we are good fund manager
• Not following real estate cycle 
• If china bubble burst, can buy more properties in China 
• Growth Engine -> China
• Geography - Core -  China / HK / SG / Msia / Asean (with good connection) 
• Geography - Others - Japan, India (get the right partner), Middle East - Doha(GCC countries), Australia (APN - A$2B ) 

• Reasons why get public listed 
• We need seeds capital to grow fast enough via more cash
• talent management (needs experts to manage), become rich eventually 
• Make the shares liquid