SEB Asset Management plans to launch its second Asian property fund in May this year, which will target a size of some EUR 800 mln.

'The new fund will follow a core plus/value-added investment strategy and will be tailor-made for institutional investors,' CEO Barbara Knoflach told PropertyEU. 'We intend to invest roughly half of the fund's equity this year and the remainder in 2012.'

The move follows the launch in August 2007 of SEB Asian Property Fund I, a core investment vehicle with an internal rate of return (IRR) of 9%.

Knoflach said the new fund will focus on investments in Singapore, China, Hong Kong and potentially Australia. It will also invest in Japan once the situation in the country stabilises again, she added. 'The fund will buy into all type of commercial properties, except management-intensive assets such as hotels.' A minority exposure to the residential sector is also envisaged.