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www.canadianlawyermag.com 57 tancy firm JLL, says the movement abroad by pension funds, insurance companies and other investors is driven by the opportuni- ties. "The primary reason for that is yields right now for real estate; the core assets are at historic lows. . . . The pension funds, the Brookfields, the Oxford Properties, Ivanhoé Cambridge, Canadian Pension — CPPIB, are starting to look abroad," he says. "In essential business districts with the big class A build- ings, they can get better returns going abroad and that's why you're seeing a lot more investment or joint ventures or hookups in the [United] States as well as Europe and Asia, too." Oxford Property, for instance, was involved in a US$25-billion joint venture in New York City's Hudson Yards. In fact, JLL's research shows that, while a decade ago 96 per cent of Oxford's property invest- ments were in Canada, it reports that 55 per cent of its investments are now in property in other countries. While many are seeing better returns, investors are also mitigating their risks by diversifying their portfolios, Greven says. He sees companies frequently creating joint ventures for large industrial invest- ments. Without having the luxury of teams in these international markets, they turn to a platform model or platform venture where the Canadian pension fund and its captive real estate arm will identify a market and opportunity internationally and partner with a local real estate company or property management company. In structuring the joint venture, von Hahn says, his group focuses on ensuring the client is protected and ensuring the money that is invested comes back. They also consider repu- tation by vetting the partner so that the client is comfortable developing that business asso- ciation. "Although appropriate structuring and legal rights are important, the relation- ship is generally one that is long term and it is based on a level of trust," he says. Determining the finance structure and what they want to build are part of struc- turing the agreement along with anticipating change, such as exiting the investment if the relationship doesn't go as planned or the policy direction of the fund changes. Joint ventures aren't restricted to international deals, investors can have experience on their home turf, particularly in the residential space involving condominium developers. But the domestic players will often have a certain comfort level and know what the deal looks like. Lawson Lundell's recent deal involved property in India where the pension fund has no office. It sought out a domestic venture partner, and the Canadian pension fund became the equity partner, providing the funding for the venture. "When we put a team together for these deals, it's normally led by our tax group. One of the main thrusts for all this work is the structuring aspect of it, so our tax group does a lot of international structuring for Canadian pension funds," says Tolensky. "In all cases, we will also reach out and retain local counsel. And we will be our clients' eyes and ears supervising that local counsel." The Canadian firm's value, he says, is that its long-term relationship with the Canadian "It's getting harder and harder for pension funds in Canada to find the right size of deal here in Canada." Peter Tolensky, Lawson Lundell LLP THE BIG PLAYERS IN REAL ESTATE 499 IN 2018 FROM 442 IN 2017 number of global and institutional players investing US$1 billion or more in real estate, according to a survey by data and intelligence company Preqin Ltd. 28 PER CENT proportion of investors that were pension funds 21 PER CENT proportion of investors that were insurance companies 11 PER CENT proportion of those billion-dollar investors' portfolio that is real estate, compared to other investors at just eight per cent pension fund client means it is able to serve and protect the client by taking into account its various needs, such as tax considerations and reporting needs, which could include filtering granular due diligence reports and creating summaries and highlighting red-flag elements. "Our job is just to make our clients' life as easy as possible," says Tolensky.