Guardian.co.uk – Investors are highly concerned about potential debt problems in unlisted European real estate funds, causing them to drastically cut back equity commitments to the sector, an industry body said on Thursday.

In a survey of investors, 88 percent said they were either "very concerned" or "concerned" about property funds breaching covenants, INREV (the European Association for Investors in Non-listed Real Estate Vehicles) said in an industry conference held in Greece.

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Tags: commitments, covenants, debt problems, european real estate, greece, guardian, property funds, real estate funds, uk-investors

Guardian Unlimited – Japan’s public pension fund, the world’s largest, said on Thursday it needs a deeper study of diversifying into alternative investments, such as hedge funds and real estate, after seeing the asset class hit by the financial crisis.

Takahiro Kawase, president of the Government Pension Investment Fund (GPIF), denied a media report last week that it was planning to start investments in real estate funds from the business year beginning on April 1, 2010.

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Tags: alternative investments, april 1, asset class, financial crisis, government pension, guardian-unlimited, investment-fund, japan, pension investment, public pension fund, real estate funds