Guardian Group of Funds Ltd. (GGOF) today announced the launch of GGOF Global Real Estate Fund, providing Canadian investors with greater access to investment opportunities in the world’s real estate markets, including North American, European and Asian real estate-related securities.

“Many people think that real estate investing begins and ends with the purchase and sale of their home, while others take it one step further by purchasing revenue-generating properties, such as rental units or commercial real estate. However, direct ownership of property is not the only way to reap the benefits associated with real estate investing,” says Gavin Graham, chief investment officer, GGOF.

“Publicly traded real estate securities also provide investors with a way to increase their real estate exposure, as does a real estate mutual fund which is typically less volatile than individual real estate investments. GGOF Global Real Estate Fund provides Canadians with a conservative investment option to access international real estate markets,” adds Graham.

GGOF Global Real Estate Fund will provide investors with exposure to real estate markets around the world through a portfolio of approximately 40-50 holdings of North American, European and Asian real estate-related securities. The fund will make regular distributions which will typically include income, capital gains and tax-deferred capital gains in the form of return of capital.

“By investing in global real estate, you are essentially investing in a series of local markets — factors affecting lease rates in the U.S. shopping mall market have little to do with factors affecting property values of Japanese apartments, which in turn have little to do with commercial office space in Canada,” says Graham.

“Real estate tends to follow its own cycle and can deliver attractive relative returns in both up and down markets. One of the primary reasons that real estate securities have equity-like return potential with significantly lower risk is because they are a source of regular, predictable income,” adds Graham.

The fund will be managed by two of GGOF’s world-class investment advisory teams: Guardian Capital LP will manage the Canadian component and GGOF Investment Management will manage both the U.S. and EAFE (Europe, Australasia and Far East) component in consultation with Towerhouse Capital Management LLC, a San Francisco-based REIT consulting firm.