New AFIAA investment group

Since the "Swiss franc shock," the topic of currency hedging has been a high priority for Swiss pension funds in particular, and especially for investments in foreign real estate. For this reason, the AFIAA Investment Foundation, which focuses on real estate investments abroad, recently launched another investment vehicle, the "AFIAA Diversified indirect hedged" investment group, which gives Swiss pension funds currency-hedged access to an international real estate portfolio.

According to AFIAA, investments are made indirectly through unlisted real estate funds; the portfolio is broadly diversified and currently includes 14 target funds with more than 1,900 properties. The regional investment focus is on North America, Europe and Australia.

With the launch of "AFIAA Global hedged" as of June 30, 2018, and "AFIAA Diversified indirect hedged" as of March 31, 2019, AFIAA now has two currency-hedged investment groups, it added. According to the statement, there are currently approximately CHF 240 million in capital commitments. Both investment groups are open for new subscriptions.

"For diversification reasons, Swiss pension funds are continuously investing larger amounts in foreign real estate," says Ingo Bofinger, managing director of AFIAA Investment Foundation. "Many of our clients were explicitly looking for currency-hedged investment vehicles. Thanks to the pooling of resources and assets within the foundation, we can offer them cost-effective solutions."

Founded in 2004 and now part of the Avadis Group, the Zurich-based AAFIAA Investment Foundation offers products exclusively for Swiss pension funds, has offices in New York and Sydney, and managed real estate assets of CHF 2.2 billion at the end of 2018.