A major Asian investment firm known for its work in the West is pulling back from the U.S. and Europe.
Hong Kong-based Gaw Capital Partners, which has spent nearly $2.5B across U.S. and European real estate, is refocusing on local markets, PERE reported.
"Our biggest strength has always been Asia," a Gaw spokesperson told Bisnow in a statement. "Indeed, the vast majority of the firm’s US$35.8 billion of assets under management, is in markets closer to its base."
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The firm will work to exit those markets in the most profitable way possible and reduce its headcount in the U.S. and UK. Staff associated with those teams were reportedly notified over the summer.
Gaw’s pullback will reverse 15 years of investment in the West that began in the wake of the Global Financial Crisis. It raised $850M across three U.S. investment vehicles between 2011 and 2018.
Most of that went toward deals on the West Coast, where Gaw has offices in Los Angeles, San Francisco and Seattle.
The firm was even more invested in Europe, where it reportedly deployed $1.6B, mostly in UK office buildings and Portuguese hotels.
Gaw’s position began to slip with the onset of the pandemic. Geopolitical dynamics, including policy uncertainty in the U.S. and the Trump administration’s contentious relationship with China, have also made it less competitive.
When protests racked Hong Kong in August 2019 as Beijing looked to exert more control over what was previously a British colony, many of the city’s investors were cautious about deploying capital abroad.
But Gaw bucked the trend by teaming up with DJM Capital Partners to buy Ovation Hollywood. The property, then known as Hollywood & Highland, includes a mix of retail, event space and offices.
The investment appears to have been a bust. A $211M CMBS loan underpinning the purchase entered special servicing in June 2024.
A March 2025 appraisal pegged the property’s value at $257M, 24% less than the $338M it was worth when the loan was originated in 2019.
UPDATE, OCT. 31, 10:04 A.M. ET: This story has been updated with comments from a Gaw spokesperson.
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