Legal & General Capital announces $500m investment into US laboratory firm
Asset manager Legal & General Capital (LGC) has unveiled its first stateside investment today with a $500m cash injection to spur the development of lab facilities across the US.
The investment from LGC, in partnership with US-based real estate developer Ancora, will form a new real estate firm which will aim to fuel the development of life science, research and tech facilities across the US.
LGC’s $500m commitment comes as the first stage in a planned $4bn (£3.2bn) investment over the next five years which it said would drive “planned acquisition and development activity” for the newly formed firm.
Legal & General boss Sir Nigel Wilson said the scarcity of lab real estate sector posed a major opportunity for the firm.
“While the U.S. is the world’s largest commercial real estate market, the lab real estate market in particular is one of the smallest sectors among other commercial U.S. asset classes,” he said.
“This lack of scale creates high barriers to entry for investors and has made it particularly challenging for tenants to grow due to scarcity of supply.”
He added that LGC’s ability to access this opportunity via Ancora will “set it apart from other sources of institutional capital seeking to participate in the market.”
Legal & General Group currently manages over $1.8tn of assets globally and is ramping up its presence in the US for both equity and debt vehicles.
The firm said LGC’s first venture into the US formed an important part of its “major growth strategy” to expand internationally and attract third party capital.