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To: shades who wrote (60218)	5/3/2006 2:36:16 PM
From: shades	Respond to of 110194

Liquid Realty Buys $775M Real Estate Portfolio By Marietta Cauchi and Janet Morrissey Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES NEW YORK (Dow Jones)--San Francisco-based Liquid Realty Partners said Wednesday it has bought a real estate portfolio from U.K.-based Jersey Property Unit Trusts in a deal worth some $775 million. The U.K.-based transaction gives Liquid Realty Partners interests in 10 different property unit trusts comprising 200 retail, office and industrial properties across the U.K. and including Bluewater, the country's largest and most visited shopping mall. Liquid Realty Partners is a private equity firm dedicated to buying real estate interests in the secondary market, which involves acquiring stakes in private equity funds from the fund's investors, or limited partners. The secondary market is becoming increasingly popular as a way for limited partners to achieve liquidity and reposition their portfolios and the secondary property market is especially active. "There has been a significant increase in the commitments to property by private equity funds generally and there are a number of very large funds raised specifically to invest in the sector - this in turn fuels the secondary market," Scott Landress, co-managing partner and chief executive of Liquid Realty Partners, said in an interview. Landress describes the transaction as the largest of its kind in the secondary real estate market, but emphasizes this doesn't mean institutional investors are looking to exit their minority stakes because they think real estate values have peaked. "There is nothing in our business that would indicate that a bubble is about to occur," said Landress. He said management changes at a fund, regulatory changes, tax issues or just profit-taking are among the reasons investors are exiting a real estate investment. He said he hasn't seen any particular property segment showing signs of peaking values. Up until now, the largest secondary real estate trade was about $50 million, he said. Landress said he is hoping this latest transaction will help to advance the secondary market as a way for institutional investors to exit their investments. "They've been looking for a bellwether transaction that would prove to them that a firm was capable of doing a large complex deal," he said. "For that reason, this is a bellwether transaction that we expect to give substantial confidence to the institutional investment community that a viable and responsible option exists for their exits from their real estate investments." Liquid Realty Partners was set up in 2002 and has some $900 million under management - its investments include interests in properties held by private equity funds throughout the world. Signature properties in the U.S. include Houston Galleria and Pacific Shore, a high-profile office building in Silicon Valley, and its European interests include the Four Seasons hotel in Milan. The firm holds investments for an average of five to seven years and typically sells on to other real estate-focused private equity investors or trade buyers, said Landress. Unlike primary private equity funds, secondary market players tend not to use leverage on their investments. -By Marietta Cauchi, Dow Jones Newswires; 201-938-2129; marietta.cauchi@dowjones.com (END) Dow Jones Newswires May 03, 2006 13:27 ET (17:27 GMT) Copyright (c) 2006 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.- - 01 27 PM EDT 05-03-06