AEW UK is a UK-based company providing real estate investments management that is the local subsidiary of US-based

AEW Capital Management AEW Capital Management (AEW) is an American real estate investment firm headquartered in Boston. The firm is the real estate asset management platform of Natixis Investment Managers. In 2022, the firm was ranked by PERE (under Private Equity I ...

. AEW UK is a 50:50

joint venture A joint venture (JV) is a business entity created by two or more parties, generally characterized by shared ownership, shared returns and risks, and shared governance. Companies typically pursue joint ventures for one of four reasons: to acce ...

between the AEW UK management team and AEW Global’s European operation, AEW Europe. , AEW managed €19.3 bn of real estate assets in Europe. AEW Europe is a subsidiary of French based Natixis Global Asset Management (NGAM), the asset management platform of the

Natixis BPCE (for Banque Populaire Caisse d'Epargne) is a major French banking group formed by the 2009 merger of two major retail banking groups, Groupe Caisse d'Épargne and Groupe Banque Populaire. As of 2021, it was France's fourth-largest bank, t ...

group. NGAM is the 14th largest, asset manager in the World and the second largest in France. Natixis’ previous investments include

Bernie Madoff Bernard Lawrence Madoff ( ; April 29, 1938April 14, 2021) was an American financial criminal and financier who was the admitted mastermind of the largest known Ponzi scheme in history, worth an estimated $65 billion. He was at one time ...

’s notorious Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC.

UK funds

The UK funds managed by AEW include the ''AEW UK Core Property Fund'', the ''AEW UK South East Office Fund'', the ''AEW UK Real Return Fund'' and the

Real estate investment trust A real estate investment trust (REIT, pronounced "reet") is a company that owns, and in most cases operates, income-producing real estate. REITs own many types of real estate, including office and apartment buildings, studios, warehouses, hos ...

''AEW UK REIT plc''. , AEW UK

REIT A real estate investment trust (REIT, pronounced "reet") is a company that owns, and in most cases operates, income-producing real estate. REITs own many types of real estate, including office and apartment buildings, studios, warehouses, hos ...

was ranked 21st out of 50 UK listed property related

investment funds An investment fund is a way of investing money alongside other investors in order to benefit from the inherent advantages of working as part of a group such as reducing the risks of the investment by a significant percentage. These advantages inc ...

by total shareholder return by Property Week. The underlying assets in these funds range from a Gala Bingo Hall in Borehamwood, to the Ryde Arena on the Isle of Wight.

Controversies

In October 2016 AEW UK closed

Ryde Arena Ryde Arena (previously Planet Ice Isle of Wight) was an ice rink in Ryde, Isle of Wight, England. It was opened in 1991 and had a capacity of 1,000 spectators. The venue was the only ice rink in Isle of Wight, functioning as home ice to the Wigh ...

, an

ice skating Ice skating is the Human-powered transport, self-propulsion and gliding of a person across an ice surface, using metal-bladed ice skates. People skate for various reasons, including recreation (fun), exercise, competitive sports, and commuting. ...

rink on the

Isle of Wight The Isle of Wight (Help:IPA/English, /waɪt/ Help:Pronunciation respelling key, ''WYTE'') is an island off the south coast of England which, together with its surrounding uninhabited islets and Skerry, skerries, is also a ceremonial county. T ...

which was being run by a local community group, without notice. Children expecting to attend regular

hockey ''Hockey'' is a family of List of stick sports, stick sports where two opposing teams use hockey sticks to propel a ball or disk into a goal. There are many types of hockey, and the individual sports vary in rules, numbers of players, apparel, ...

and skating practice found themselves locked out of the building. The building remains closed and AEW have not disclosed their plans for the building. Members of the Isle of Wight skating community formed The Ryde Arena Community Action Group which is campaigning to have the building re-opened. The building was listed as an asset of community value in January 2016. Stories highlighting the impact of AEW’s actions on children on the Island feature on the Action Group’s website. In June 2016 a planning application submitted by AEW UK for 76 flats in

Bournemouth Bournemouth ( ) is a coastal resort town in the Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole unitary authority area, in the ceremonial county of Dorset, England. At the 2021 census, the built-up area had a population of 196,455, making it the largest ...

's Beales store was unanimously rejected after a campaign by locals and the owners of Beales backed by Conor Burns MP. The 65 studio and 11 one bedroom flats with no parking which were described by AEW UK as "an

environmentally sustainable Sustainability is a social goal for people to co-exist on Earth over a long period of time. Definitions of this term are disputed and have varied with literature, context, and time. Sustainability usually has three dimensions (or pillars): env ...

approach" which "made the best use of the building" were rejected by councillors as "shabby" and "appalling".

References

{{reflist Property companies of the United Kingdom Companies in the FTSE SmallCap Index