Hines-sponsored investment offerings in the United States and Europe are now available to the Canadian wealth management market through a partnership between its broker-dealer affiliate, Hines Securities, Inc., and iCapital.

The expansion into Canada is being led by John Morrison, a former president and chief executive officer of Choice Properties REIT, and John Reilly, a former managing director with RBC Wealth Management.

Morrison has an extensive background in all aspects of commercial real estate and Reilly is well-established in the Canadian financial services space.

Both were familiar with Hines prior to becoming involved in this venture and Morrison told RENX in an email interview they are excited to be involved in offering this opportunity to Canadian investors.

“We have seen significant interest from Canadian investors in a global investment program focused on diversified, income-generating real estate assets,” Morrison wrote.

“It is an opportunity for financial professionals to consider whether their Canadian clients should add a non-domestic global real estate portfolio to their investment holdings."

Their responsibilities will include educating Canadian financial professionals about the investment program and facilitating its expansion.

Hines is a major global player

Hines, a privately owned global real estate investment, development and property manager founded in 1957 in Houston, has 4,700 employees in 30 countries.

It manages nearly $96 billion US in assets across residential, logistics, retail, office and mixed-use strategies.

Hines has 120 employees in Canada and a 15-year track record of investing in the country. This new initiative will offer Canadian investors the chance to access a Hines-backed international portfolio of assets that wasn’t previously available to them.

Hines Securities is the dealer manager for a variety of investment opportunities, including: public, non-listed real estate investment trusts; private placements; and a tax-deferred exchange platform. 

“iCapital will provide Canadian investors with the ability to access a diversified global portfolio that carries a total value of US$3.83B and is nearly two-thirds weighted toward industrial and living sectors and has properties in eight countries, including the United States and across Europe,” Morrison wrote.

Opportunities provided through iCapital

iCapital is a financial technology company with its headquarters in New York.

It was founded in 2013, employs approximately 1,100 globally and provides: end-to-end technology and service solutions; education tools and resources; and diligence, compliance and portfolio analytics capabilities. 

iCapital-managed platforms offer wealth advisors and their high-net-worth clients access to an array of private investments, including equity, credit, real estate, infrastructure, hedge funds, structured investments, annuities and risk-managed solutions. 

“We are honoured to deepen our existing partnership with Hines, a recognized leader in global real estate investing,” iCapital head of international Marco Bizzozero said in a media release. 

“Wealth creation is increasingly taking place outside the public markets.

"We are delighted to support Hines in their ambition to offer banks and wealth managers in Canada with facilitated access to the growth and diversification opportunities the private markets can offer in portfolios of private clients.”

As of Feb. 28, iCapital was servicing more than $153 billion US in global client assets, of which $30 billion US are from non-U.S. investors across more than 1,230 funds.