TRP6412 Real Estate Investment: resit assignment brief
This resit coursework comprises two elements:
1. The first is that you are required to complete your work again, revising and improving it based on the feedback provided on your original submission. Your new submission is expected to show clear evidence that you have understood and acted upon the feedback. The original assignment is reproduced below.
2. You must also submit a note of 500 words explaining what changes you have made to your original assignment and explaining why you believe that these changes have improved the assignment.
Scenario: You are employed as a fund manager with PIM (Portfolio Investment Managers). PIM currently has £25.1 billion of real estate assets under management, and places its ESG responsibilities at the centre of its operations. It uses GRESB to measure its ESG performance, providing transparency to investors. Of the assets under management, 15% are indirect property in the UK.
Brief: GreenGrass Pensions is your largest UK-based client, and you have recently taken over as fund manager of their £1.2 billion direct real estate pension fund. You must submit a report to GreenGrass’ Chief Officer detailing your proposed strategy for the fund for the 12 months to mid Jan 2025.
Coverage: Your report should include:
• explicit consideration of property investment issues throughout each section of the report, including: (i) investment theory and (ii) practical application of theory to fund management;
• an Executive Summary (see the Guidance on Report Writing for content);
• an investment strategy, with return and risk objectives and statement of management style;
• market analysis and forecasts of performance, with analysis of the consequences for both the benchmark and the portfolio as it is currently structured, to underpin your recommendation;
• recommendations for the strategicallocation of the £1.2 billion direct property fund;
• details of expected absolute and relative performance; and
• one example of a specific target property for purchase (or sale) in each sector, with analysis of specific risk opportunities (or threats) including ESG details.
Weightings:
|
Current fund weightings:
|
|
City
South East
West Midlands Eastern
Yorks & Humber
|
Office
26.0%
-
5.5% 6.0% 7.5%
|
Retail
-
19.0% 6.5% 5.5% 2.9%
|
Industrial
-
3.0% 10.0% 2.5% 5.6%
|
|
Current benchmark weightings:
|
|
City
South East
West Midlands Eastern
Yorks & Humber
|
Office
28.4%
-
5.5% 7.0% 6.0%
|
Retail
-
15.6% 5.0% 7.5% 3.9%
|
Industrial
-
7.1% 8.0% 0.9% 5.1%
|
Assessment Criteria - your submission will be assessed against the following criteria:
• Knowledge and application of investment theories and processes, to underpin advice to a client;
• Understanding of the importance of ESG considerations in portfolio management;
• Clear and robust development of spreadsheet(s) for portfolio management; and
• Presentation to a professional standard for both the written report and excel spreadsheets, including good skills in referencing using the Harvard style.
Submission:
• As set out in the Module Outline, this submission provides 100% of the mark for the module.
• The submission comprises a professional report (2,500 words) plus excel spreadsheets.
• The report should include diagrams and data as appropriate. Bulky supporting material would be best placed in appendices, which do not contribute to the word count.
• You are expected to have drawn upon the Guidance for Report Writing, available in the ‘My Assignments’ section on Blackboard for the original submission.
• Your submission will comprise two elements: (i) the professional report; and (ii) your excel file. The excel spreadsheets must be your own original spreadsheets and analysis, demonstrating your understanding. The spreadsheets must be titled and presented clearly so that your client can follow them easily.