Foreign Exchange Risk Management Practices By Lpts In Australia

Listed property trusts (LPTs) have been a successful indirect property investment vehicle in Australia, accounting for over 1,500 institutional-grade properties valued at over $100 billion in both diversified and sector-specific portfolios. With LPTs accounting for 49% of all institutional-grade property in Australia, the lack of local investment opportunities has seen LPTs seeking international property investments in recent years, particularly in the US and more recently in Europe and Asia. This has seen the establishment of LPTs to invest solely in international property, as well as LPTs which have merged their international and domestic property portfolios, with international property now accounting for 35% of LPT total assets. Given these increasingly significant levels in international property in these LPT portfolios, it is important for LPTs to use a variety of financial mechanisms to mitigate foreign exchange risk arising from their foreign currency exposures. This paper will assess the significance of the foreign exchange risk management procedures utilised by LPTs for both capital and income risk management; this will be based on a survey of all LPTs in Australia, as well as in-depth interviews with LPT fund managers.