Cohen & Steers Global Real Estate Securities
Cohen & Steers is an industry leading specialist in real estate securities, and this global fund is one of its flagship products. It invests in the entire global real estate investment trust (REIT) and publicly traded real estate company universe, with analysts looking at stocks from both an equity and property perspective. This makes it very comprehensive and fairly unique. The manager is supported by a large and experienced team. The process looks at potential investments from multiple angles and timeframes to get the fullest picture possible and create a diversified, all-weather portfolio.
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Jon Cheigh, Executive Vice President and Chief Investment Officer at Cohen & Steers, leads the investment department. Joining the company in 2005 as a REIT analyst, he became a portfolio manager in 2008 and was named CIO in 2019. He was Head of Global Real Estate from 2012 to 2023. Before Cohen & Steers, Jon was a vice president and senior REIT analyst at Security Capital Research & Management and worked in real estate acquisitions at InterPark and Urban Growth Property Trust. He holds a BA from Williams College and an MBA from the University of Chicago. He is based in New York.
William Leung, Senior Vice President and Head of Asia Pacific Real Estate at Cohen & Steers, manages global real estate securities portfolios. He joined the firm in 2012, bringing experience from RREEF Real Estate/Deutsche Bank, where he led the Asia real estate securities team for 12 years. Earlier, he was a research analyst at Merrill Lynch Asia Pacific. William holds an MBA from The Hong Kong University of Science & Technology and a BA from Hong Kong Polytechnic University. He is based in Hong Kong.
Rogier Quirijns, Senior Vice President, leads the Europe Real Estate team at Cohen & Steers, overseeing the research and analysis of European real estate securities. He joined the firm in 2008, having previously worked as a senior real estate equity analyst at ABN AMRO in Amsterdam, covering France, Scandinavia, and Benelux. Rogier also managed direct real estate portfolios at Equity Estate and was an analyst at Arthur Andersen's real estate corporate finance team. He holds a degree in business economics from the University of Amsterdam and is based in London.
Jason A. Yablon, Executive Vice President and Head of Listed Real Estate at Cohen & Steers, has 24 years of experience in the field. He manages portfolios and oversees research for listed real estate securities. Before joining Cohen & Steers in 2004, Jason was a sell-side analyst at Morgan Stanley, focusing on apartment and health care REITs. He holds a BA from the University of Pennsylvania and is based in New York.
Jon Cheigh, Executive Vice President and Chief Investment Officer at Cohen & Steers, leads the investment department. Joining the company in 2005 as a REIT analyst, he became a portfolio manager in 2008 and was named CIO in 2019. He was Head of Global Real Estate from 2012 to 2023. Before Cohen & Steers, Jon was a vice president and senior REIT analyst at Security Capital Research & Management and worked in real estate acquisitions at InterPark and Urban Growth Property Trust. He holds a BA from Williams College and an MBA from the University of Chicago. He is based in New York.
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Company Description
Cohen & Steers was founded in 1986 as specialists in Real Estate and was the first dedicated manager in the sector. It is now a publicly listed industry leader, with over 350 staff across five cities in three continents. The firm has $97bn of assets under management, predominantly in the listed real assets space, as well as some assets in alternative income and multi-strategy. Almost all are in asset backed securities. The firm’s specialism and experience has given it enormous scale and a huge depth to its research team.
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Investment process
The process uses a combination of fundamental company analysis, and a view of the wider economic environment to balance investment views. This helps the team cut through the market noise and understand the nuances behind each stock and what is driving performance.
The investment universe starts with around 400 different Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs). The universe also includes gaming and casino companies, and some property services companies. The fund is also expanding into sectors such as data centres and towers, as technology continues to drive demand.
The team analyses each stock from two angles; the short-term, when REITs can behave more like equities; and the long-term when they exhibit property-like characteristics.
When looking at valuations, the team will consider the buildings themselves and their net asset values (NAV), whereas equity analysis is more about using a dividend discount model (DDM) which is a way of valuing future income streams compared to today’s value.
Each analyst has the capacity to conduct extremely in-depth research on their holdings, because they only cover 20-25 stocks on average (compared to 40-60 for industry standards). This allows them to look beyond just the performance of underlying company, to the drivers behind it, for example by reading investment notes for Microsoft and Nvidia to get a better idea about the prospects for a data centre company. This gives the analysts a better understanding behind their ideas, and enables them to build higher conviction, with the aim of generating better performance.
The combination of this fundamental analysis, long and short-term modelling, and factor analysis leads to a ranking of the universe by their estimate of discount to the current share price. It allows them to get the best idea of what looks cheapest globally today. Their positioning is driven by what they find most attractive at the biggest discount.
Risk
The fund manages risk relative to the benchmark to ensure that stock selection is the primary driver of returns. On a country level, this allows ranges of ±15% on North America or emerging markets and ±10% on both Europe and Asia. There is also a risk team in support, that assesses where the fund is exposed. On an individual stock basis, the analysts use scenario analysis and stress testing to assess absolute risks as well as helping to see if they are pointed towards any specific factors risks.
ESG
ESG - Integrated
Cohen & Steers views ESG as critical to unlocking value and mitigating risk and has a four-stage for integration. First it identifies key ESG factors and determines weights for each area using MSCI and other key sources as a guide. It then scores each area using third-party data and its own proprietary assessments. These scores will then be integrated into investment decisions. Finally, Cohen & Steers will look to engage with a company and promote best practice, to help long-term company performance.
Environmental real estate factors include building energy efficiency; energy, waste, and water management; green leases; green bond issuance; and GHG resuction policy. Social factors include human capital management; diversity and inclusion; health and wellness; and community impact. Governance factors include management acumen; board structure, tenure, refreshment and alignment; shareholder rights, audit and risk oversight; and insider/management ownership and shareholder structure.
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