Acquisition to Provide Analytics and Portfolio Management Expertise for a
New Family of Real Estate Funds
SAN FRANCISCO, Jan. 5 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Charles Schwab
Investment Management (CSIM), the asset management arm of The Charles
Schwab Corporation, announced that on Jan. 1st, 2007 it completed the
acquisition of substantially all of the assets of Global Real Analytics,
LLC (GRA). A San Francisco-based investment research and consulting firm,
GRA is a leader in applied real estate analytics and commercial real estate
index products. The GRA team will play an integral role in developing and
managing a new set of real estate investment products that CSIM plans to
add to its current suite of index, fixed income and actively-managed equity
funds. GRA has a model-based approach to the evaluation of real estate
securities, similar to that of Schwab Equity Ratings for stock selection.
"With approximately $2 trillion invested worldwide, commercial real
estate securities represent an important sector for investors," said Evelyn
Dilsaver, president and CEO of Charles Schwab Investment Management.
"Global Real Analytics is a well-established firm with a solid track
record. The capabilities they bring will provide Schwab with a unique
advantage in delivering powerful real estate research, insights and
investment choices to our clients."
GRA's property-based analytical models and proprietary real estate
databases are used to evaluate REITs and other real estate companies in
more than 50 countries. The company is known for its National Real Estate
Index, which for 20 years has provided timely analysis of commercial real
estate trends in U.S. metropolitan markets.
"We are immensely excited to be joining Charles Schwab Investment
Management and look forward to helping CSIM develop best-in-class real
estate investment products," said James Sempere, previously GRA's chief
operating officer and now CSIM's head of real estate investment and
research. Other GRA senior managers joining CSIM include Daniel O'Connor,
Lawrence Souza, Dionisio Meneses, and David Siopack.
Last month, CSIM filed a registration statement for a new real estate
offering, the Schwab Global Real Estate Fund. GRA's proprietary database
and investment model will be used by the investment adviser to help select
the fund's investments.
INVESTORS SHOULD CONSIDER CAREFULLY INFORMATION CONTAINED IN THE
PROSPECTUS, INCLUDING INVESTMENT OBJECTIVES, RISKS, CHARGES AND EXPENSES.
YOU CAN REQUEST A PROSPECTUS BY CALLING SCHWAB AT 800 435-4000. PLEASE READ
THE PROSPECTUS CAREFULLY BEFORE INVESTING
UNDERSTANDING INHERENT RISKS SUCH AS INTEREST RATE FLUCTUATION, CREDIT
RISK AND ECONOMIC CONDITIONS ARE IMPORTANT WHEN CONSIDERING AN INVESTMENT
IN REAL ESTATE
About Charles Schwab Investment Management
Founded in 1991, Charles Schwab Investment Management, Inc. (CSIM), an
affiliate of Charles Schwab & Co. Inc., is one of the nation's largest
asset management companies with nearly $188 billion under management as of
Dec. 31, 2006. It is among the country's largest money market fund managers
and is the third-largest provider of retail index funds. In addition to
managing Schwab proprietary funds, CSIM provides oversight for the
institutional-style, sub-advised Laudus Fund family. CSIM also manages over
$1.2 billion in separately managed accounts. CSIM currently manages 69
mutual funds, including 40 actively-managed funds, and five separate
account model portfolios. (0107-5425)
SOURCE Charles Schwab
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Related links:
http://www.schwab.com/
CONTACT:
Sondra Harris of Charles Schwab,
+1-415-636-3292, or sondra.harris@schwab.com
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