CLEVELAND (March 12, 2020) – The Townsend Group, an Aon company and a leading provider of global investment solutions for real estate and real assets, today announced that it raised $1.5 billion from established U.S., Asian, and European investors for its Townsend Real Estate Alpha (TREA) global value-add real estate strategy.

The TREA strategy targets joint ventures, co-investments, secondaries, and recapitalizations across global developed markets and seeks to provide clients with diversification by geography, property type, and investment structure.

“We appreciate the support of our historical investors and welcome many new investors in this endeavor. The TREA program continues to provide investors with differentiated exposure to global real estate opportunities and seeks to generate returns that are compelling on both an absolute and risk-adjusted basis,” Terry Ahern, chief executive officer of The Townsend Group, said. “We are confident in the platform and team we have built to source specialized opportunities to drive value for our investors in a competitive and quickly evolving marketplace.”

Townsend opened the TREA strategy for the first time to European investors and saw increased interest from investors in both the U.S. and Asia.

The TREA strategy launched in 2007 and has deployed $6.2 billion globally as of December 31, 2019. The TREA strategy has executed 137 co-investments, joint ventures, and secondary transactions with over 70 real estate partners throughout Europe, Asia, and North and South America.

As of June 30, 2019, The Townsend Group had $18.4 billion in assets under management and $138.3 billion in assets under advisement.

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Disclosure
Non-Regulatory Assets Under Management: As of June 30, 2019, Townsend had assets under management of approximately $18.4 billion. When calculating assets under management, Townsend aggregates net asset values and unfunded commitments on a quarterly basis. Townsend relies on third parties to provide asset valuations, which typically takes in excess of 90 days after the quarter end. Therefore, assets under management have been calculated using June 30, 2019 figures where available but may also include March 31, 2019 figures. Assets under management are calculated quarterly and includes discretionary assets under management and non-discretionary client assets where the client’s contractual arrangement provides the client with the ability to opt out of or into particular transactions, or provides other ancillary control rights over investment decision-making (a/k/a “quasi-discretionary”). Regulatory AUM is calculated annually and can be made available upon request.

Advised Assets: As of June 30, 2019, Townsend provided advisory services to clients who had real estate/real asset allocations exceeding $138.3 billion. Advised assets includes real estate and real asset allocation as reported by our clients for whom Townsend provides multiple advisory services—including strategic and underwriting advice for the entire portfolio. Advised assets are based on totals reported by each client to Townsend or derived from publicly available information. Advised assets are calculated quarterly. Select clients report less frequently than quarterly in which case we roll forward prior quarter totals.

Forward-Looking Statements
Certain items in this press release may constitute forward-looking statements, which can be identified by words like "expect," "will," and similar expressions. These statements are based on management's current expectations and beliefs and are subject to a number of trends and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those described in the forward-looking statements; Townsend can give no assurance that their expectations will be attained. Forward-looking statements are necessarily speculative in nature, and it can be expected that some or all of the assumptions underlying any forward-looking statements will not materialize or will vary significantly from actual results. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from Townsend's expectations include, but are not limited to, market conditions, availability of compelling investment opportunities, whether our investments will yield attractive returns or good equity multiples, our ability to structure investments with strong downside protection, our level and quality of deal flow, our ability to deploy capital and the timing and capital raising of new funds. Such forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this press release. Townsend expressly disclaims any obligation to release publicly any updates or revisions to any forward-looking statements contained herein to reflect any change in its expectations with regard thereto or change in events, conditions or circumstances on which any statement is based.

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