January 1999 (Revised August 1999)
Case
HBS Case Collection

Asia Property Limited

By: William J. Poorvu and Daniel J. Rudd

Format:Print
| Pages:16

Abstract

On October 23, 1998, Bud Lake leafed through his files on property markets in Asia. Lake was responsible for real-estate investments at an aggressive and eclectic investment fund with total assets of $1.5 billion--up from $400 million at its start in 1994. As the fund grew, Lake found himself scrambling to deploy his allotted 25% into real estate. For several months, he had been finding it difficult to buy U.S. properties. Recently, Lake had invested $30 million in a European "vulture fund," his first foray outside of the U.S. property market. Now Lake was taking a hard look at Asia, just as the lure of collapsing property values and $600 to $800 billion of troubled real-estate loans in the region was leading to unprecedented interest by U.S. real-estate firms. In a moment, he would hear a presentation from Jack Wong and Jason Biller, young entrepreneurs who were looking for a $25 million investment to get their new fund, Asia Property Ltd., off the ground. In addition, Lake has explored other options, such as buying the stock of a publicly traded Asian real-estate company.