Blackstone, Morgan Stanley top PERE 30

The Blackstone Group and Morgan Stanley Real Estate Investing are the two largest private equity real estate firms in the world, according to the latest PERE ranking of the industry’s biggest players.

The New York-based fund managers raised $25.6 billion and $20.15 billion respectively in dedicated real estate funds between January 2004 and mid-April, 2009. Together the pair raised a fifth of all the direct-investment capital secured by the world's 30 largest firms in the 2009 PERE 30.

The PERE 30 reveals that the top 30 firms raised $211.9 billion over the past five years, compared with $190 billion as calculated by list year’s ranking. Click here to download an executive summary of the 2009 PERE 30.

Since the debut of the PERE 30 in 2008, 12 firms have dropped one or more positions, while eight have increased their standing. Six firms have entered the firm for the first time including Angelo Gordon, AXA REIM, DRA Advisors, Hines, Prudential Real Estate Investors and Westbrook Capital Partners.

Among the biggest climbers in 2009 was Philadelphia-based Lubert-Adler Real Estate, founded by Dean Adler and Ira Lubert. It was followed by Japanese private equity real estate firm KK daVinci and Boston-based office specialist, Beacon Capital Partners. Lubert-Adler rose 10 places in the 2009 ranking, while KK daVinci and Beacon jumped eight and four spots respectively.

The firm that fell the most places, however, was Doug Shorenstein’s Shorenstein Properties, which slipped six places to 24 this year from 18 in 2008. The San Francisco-based firm, which held a second final close on its value-added fund Shorenstein Realty Investors 9 on $2.06 billion in 2008, was followed by Tishman Speyer, Grove International, JER Partners and Heitman, which all fell five places in the latest list.

The PERE 30 is based on the amount of value-added and opportunistic private equity real estate direct investment capital raised over a five-year period. PERE magazine worked on background with many of the firms themselves as well as with market sources and industry data services. For greater detail on the PERE 30 methodology, click here.

And now without further ado, we present the PERE 30 …

1         The Blackstone Group
2         Morgan Stanley Real Estate Investing
3         Goldman Sachs Real Estate Principal Investment Area
4         Colony Capital
5         Beacon Capital Partners
6         Lehman Brothers Real Estate Partners
7         LaSalle Investment Management
8         Tishman Speyer
9         The Carlyle Group
10         Westbrook Capital Partners
11         MGPA
12         CBRE Investors
13         AREA Property Partners
14         Rockpoint Group
15         Prudential Real Estate Investors
16         Lubert-Adler Real Estate
17         KK daVinci
18         RREEF Alternative Investments
19         Walton Street Capital
20         Hines
21         Citi Property Investors
22         Grove International Partners
23         The JBG Companies
24         Shorenstein Properties
25         Angelo Gordon
26         JER Partners
27         AXA REIM
28         Heitman
29         DRA Advisors
30         Starwood Capital