PGIM Real Estate appoints head of Core Strategies to drive European growth
Rory Morrison will have strategic and operational oversight of PGIM Real Estate’s European Core, European Core Plus and UK Affordable Housing strategies.
TOKYO and SINGAPORE, 7 May 2025 – PGIM Real Estate has recorded a strong start to 2025, with eight transactions valued at close to US$1.4 billion,1 including approximately US$900 million in six acquisitions. This sustains its robust investment momentum from 2024 as the company capitalizes on the real estate market recovery to grow its regional real estate equity and debt strategies.
PGIM Real Estate has expanded its Asia Pacific portfolios by investing in quality assets with a strong focus on diversification across the living, industrial, hotel, data center and office sectors in Japan and Australia this year. Catering to institutional and private wealth investors’ needs, its investment strategies span the risk-return spectrum — from Asia Pacific real estate debt and core equity to value-add opportunities and global data centers.
Benett Theseira, head of Asia Pacific at PGIM Real Estate, commented: “Despite heightened uncertainty in the macro environment, we remain confident that 2025 is a good vintage to go into the next cycle of investing, especially with global real estate repricing now complete. Asia Pacific has been more resilient than other global regions. We are at the right point of the cycle for investors to seek high quality properties at attractive entry prices.”
“From the growing living sector to the generational investment opportunity in data centers, the structural supply-demand imbalance is creating compelling long-term value particularly in Japan and Australia. Meanwhile, the differentiated resurgence in office and retail demand as well as the burgeoning hotel market are also presenting tactical opportunities. As the real estate markets recover, opportunities – both acquisitions and dispositions – are arising. Our strong transaction momentum to start the year is a testament to PGIM Real Estate’s deep global and regional expertise, extensive network, and strong local sourcing and execution capability across Asia Pacific,” he added.
Growing Japan portfolios across hotel, living, office and data centers
PGIM Real Estate recently acquired a corporate retreat facility in Izu, to the southwest of Greater Tokyo. Situated on an approximately 58,000-square-meter hilltop site, the facility comprises over 70 rooms, a swimming pool, tennis courts and beautifully landscaped gardens, offering breathtaking views of Sagami Bay and surrounding mountains, a striking landscape shaped by volcanic activity. Capitalizing on the robust tourism growth in Japan, it intends to convert the property into an upscale hotel under an international brand.
The company also added a prime multifamily portfolio of four residential properties in Central Tokyo, reiterating its strong conviction in the living sector. Ranging from six to 12 stories, the properties comprise a total of 278 multifamily units and one retail unit, which are all within 15 minutes from key business and commercial districts, with robust demand, high occupancy rates and accelerating rental growth.
In addition, the company acquired an office/retail mixed-use asset located in Omotesando. Situated in the heart of one of Japan’s most prime retail districts, the nine-story building offers approximately 9,000 square meters of net lettable area (NLA). Within just four months of the acquisition, PGIM Real Estate successfully captured the returns of the investment and sold the property in January 2025.
The growing need for digital infrastructure continues to create a generational opportunity for data center investments, underpinned by strong structural demand. PGIM Real Estate’s global data center investment team acquired a site in eastern Osaka with the intention to develop and operate a four-story, 48-megawatt IT load data center building suitable for both cloud and artificial intelligence workloads. The site sits atop an approximately 17,000 square meters of freehold land, strategically located within the availability zones of several major hyperscalers in the second-largest yet supply-constrained data center market in Japan.
Expanding office and industrial footprint in Australia
In Australia, PGIM Real Estate acquired the prime office building 20 Bridge Street in Sydney’s central business district, marking its return to the office sector after several years on the sidelines as values corrected. The 13-story property offers approximately 20,000 square meters of NLA. With investors flighting to quality, the asset’s strategic location and significant repositioning potential are set to drive future rental growth.
PGIM Real Estate also acquired a prime industrial and logistics estate in Yatala, Queensland. Situated at 14 Dixon Street, Yatala, QLD, the estate is centrally located between Brisbane and the Gold Coast and highlights the strong appetite for high-quality industrial investment opportunities in Australia.
PGIM Real Estate has 30 years of local presence and a proven track record of real estate equity and debt investments in Asia Pacific, with transaction volume totalling US$36.9 billion since its inception in 1994.
ABOUT PGIM REAL ESTATE
PGIM Real Estate is the world’s third-largest real estate investment manager, with US$206 billion in gross assets under management and administration2 and real estate professionals located in 35 cities worldwide. Built on our belief that strong performance is fueled by dynamic expertise, our global network of on-the-ground specialists is dedicated to opportunity creation, optimization, and timely capital deployment amid shifting market conditions.
Through our full suite of real estate equity and debt solutions, we aim to achieve exceptional outcomes on behalf of investors and borrowers. Our uncompromising commitment to building lasting relationships with our clients is founded on trust, transparency, and mutual respect. We strive to integrate sustainable best practices throughout our investment, asset management, risk and talent management processes for the benefit of our clients, employees, and the communities in which we operate. PGIM Real Estate is a business of PGIM, the global asset management business of Prudential Financial, Inc. (NYSE: PRU). For more information visit pgimrealestate.com.
ABOUT PGIM
PGIM is the global asset management business of Prudential Financial, Inc. (NYSE: PRU). In 41 offices across 19 countries, our more than 1,450 investment professionals serve both retail and institutional clients around the world.
As a leading global asset manager with US$1.39 trillion in assets under management,3 PGIM is built on a foundation of strength, stability, and disciplined risk management. Our multi-affiliate model allows us to deliver specialized expertise across key asset classes with a focused investment approach. This gives our clients a diversified suite of investment strategies and solutions with global depth and scale across public and private asset classes, including fixed income, equities, real estate, private credit, and other alternatives. For more information visit pgim.com.
Prudential Financial, Inc. (PFI) of the United States is not affiliated in any manner with Prudential plc, incorporated in the United Kingdom, or with Prudential Assurance Company, a subsidiary of M&G plc, incorporated in the United Kingdom. For more information please visit news.prudential.com.
1 This includes total development costs committed and capital expenditure of acquired assets.
2 As of 31 Dec. 2024. Net AUM is US$132 billion and AUA is US$47 billion. PGIM Real Estate is the third-largest real estate investment manager (out of 72 firms surveyed) in terms of global real estate assets under management based on Pensions & Investments’ “Largest Real Estate Investment Managers” list published October 2024.
3 As of 31 Mar. 2025.
For Professional Investors only. All investments involve risk, including the possible loss of capital.
© 2025 PGIM Real Estate is the real estate investment management business of PGIM, the principal asset management business of Prudential Financial, Inc. (“PFI”), a company incorporated and with its principal place of business in the United States. PGIM is a trading name of PGIM, Inc. and its global subsidiaries. PGIM, Inc. is an investment adviser registered with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”). Registration with the SEC does not imply a certain level of skill or training. PFI of the United States is not affiliated in any manner with Prudential plc, incorporated in the United Kingdom, or with Prudential Assurance Company, a subsidiary of M&G plc, incorporated in the United Kingdom. Prudential, PGIM, their respective logos and the Rock symbol are service marks of PFI and its related entities, registered in many jurisdictions worldwide. In the United Kingdom, information is issued by PGIM Limited with registered office: Grand Buildings, 1-3 Strand, Trafalgar Square, London, WC2N 5HR. PGIM Limited is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (“FCA”) of the United Kingdom (Firm Reference Number 193418). In the European Economic Area (“EEA”), information is issued by PGIM Luxembourg S.A. with registered office: 2, Boulevard de la Foire, L-1528 Luxembourg. PGIM Luxembourg S.A. is authorised and regulated by the Commission de Surveillance du Secteur Financier (the “CSSF”) in Luxembourg (registration number A00001218) and operating on the basis of a European passport. These materials are issued by PGIM Limited and/or PGIM Luxembourg S.A. to persons who are professional clients as defined under the rules of the FCA and/or to persons who are professional clients as defined in the relevant local implementation of Directive 2014/65/EU (MiFID II). PGIM operates in various jurisdictions worldwide and distributes materials and/or products to qualified professional investors through its registered affiliates including, but not limited to: PGIM Real Estate (Japan) Ltd. in Japan; PGIM (Hong Kong) Limited in Hong Kong; PGIM (Singapore) Pte. Ltd. in Singapore; PGIM (Australia) Pty Ltd in Australia; PGIM Luxembourg S.A.; and PGIM Real Estate Germany AG in Germany. For more information, please visit pgimrealestate.com.
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