情 人士说，中国3,000亿美元的主权财富基金中国投资有限责任公司(China Investment Corp.，简称中投)拟以五亿美元左右的价格，收购哈佛大学(Harvard University)在六家美国房地产基金中的股份，目前正与该校捐赠基金会深入谈判。这是到现在为止显示外资涌入美国低迷楼市最引人注目的迹象之一。
全球金融危机期间，中投公司很大程度上离场观望。现在它展开了一场配置资本的行动，而与哈佛之间可能完成的这笔交易正是行动的具体体现之一。在可用资本超过世界其他任何投资者的情况下，中投已经提高了配置于高风险投资的资产比例。
中投的动作同美国很多机构投资者退出商业房地产行业形成了鲜明对比。在繁荣年代，哈佛等投资者大量投资于商业房地产行业，结果背上了沉重负担。
上述知情人士说，这笔交易预计会在未来几个月内完成，但由于具体条款还没有最终敲定，流产的可能性仍然存在。
中投和哈佛的代表均拒绝置评。
中 投正在寻求提高它的美国房地产业敞口。同时，鉴于其他外国投资者在收购美国房产后，曾经承受政治和财务上的打击，中投也希望从它们的失误当中汲取教训。比 如在20年前日本投资者购买洛克菲勒中心(Rockefeller Center)、加州卵石滩(Pebble Beach)高尔夫球场等美国标志性物业时，就曾遇到巨大的反对声浪。
为减少公关和政 治上的不良后果，中投把目标对准了投资基金，而不是具体物业，以在一定程度上避免背负骂名。知情人士说，除了与哈佛正在进行的谈判以外，中投最近还承诺往 Brookfield Asset Management Inc.（在多伦多和纽约都有总部）的美国房地产基金投资10亿美元，并承诺向美国康涅狄格州哈特福德的Cornerstone Real Estate Advisers投资10亿美元。Brookfield和Cornerstone两家公司的代表均拒绝置评。
中投还希望避免重蹈日本和其他投资者高价购买美国房地产的覆辙。
今天美国的商业房产对外资尤具吸引力，因为其估值正处于20年以来的最低水平，而超过1万亿美元的房地产债务即将在未来五年到期。这让美国的房东和债主们相当头疼，但对现金充裕、寻求满足融资需求并收获高回报的投资者来说，却意味着机会的出现。
据 管理哈佛捐赠基金的哈佛管理公司(Harvard Management Co.)发布的最新业绩报告，在2009年6月份结束的一年里，哈佛的房地产投资损失超过50%。哈佛的捐赠基金规模达260亿美元，是美国主要大学中规 模最大的捐赠基金，自2009年以来，基金一直在试图缩减其54亿美元的房地产投资规模，以降低对房地产等低流动资产的敞口。
由于大规模投资这类资产，当两年前金融危机爆发时，哈佛捐赠基金缺少足够的现金来履行它的义务，比如为该校的教育和研究目标提供资金。
知 情人士说，哈佛曾试图借助摩根士丹利(Morgan Stanley)和瑞士信贷集团(Credit Suisse Group)出售它在数家房地产基金里的份额。两家公司的代表均拒绝置评。这些知情人士说，哈佛部分最大的房地产投资承诺是向一些基金管理公司做出的，其 中包括Lubert-Adler、Beacon Capital Partners和Westbrook Partners。
除中投以外的其他外国投资者也在寻求抄底美国房地产行业。据研究公司Real Capital Analytics说，在第二季度，来自加拿大、韩国、荷兰、科威特等国的投资者在美国共收购了约22亿美元的摩天大楼和其他物业，相当于去年同期的五倍多。
比 如，一个包括韩国社区信用合作社联合社(Korean Federation of Community Credit Cooperatives)在内的投资者团体，就以3.33亿美元的价格购买了旧金山金融区Market大街333号一幢655,398平方英尺、已完全 租出的写字楼。另外一笔大额投资，是加拿大养老金计划投资委员会(CPP Investment Board)以5.76亿美元的价格，收购了曼哈顿第六大道1221号160万平方英尺的麦格劳-希尔大楼(McGraw-Hill Building)45%的股份。
需要说明的是，当前的外资流入量相比2003年到2008年年初的水平仍然相形见绌。比如仅在2007年第三季度，即房地产市场触顶之时，外资总量大约就有87亿美元。
但 美国楼市的危机或许对中投和其他外国投资者有利。美国房地产企业高管正在游说国会，希望他们修改税法，鼓励外资进入美国房地产行业，进而在一定程度上防止 商业房地产价格进一步下滑。在20世纪80年代早期，美国国会批准对外资出售美国房产征收资本利得税，以遏制外国投资。
不清楚中投打算在 美国房地产行业配置多少资本。该公司在上周四发布了成立以来的第二份年报，但没有说房地产投资在其资产组合中占有多重的地位。上海咨奔商务咨询有限公司 (Z-Ben Advisors)执行董事麦考马克(Michael McCormack)估计，中投全球资产组合当中投资于房地产的不到50亿美元，即5%的比例。
知情人士说，中投的资金几乎已经全部用于投资，且该公司已经向北京申请注入资本。去年年底，中投所管理资产规模约为3,324亿美元，其中只有164亿美元为现金或存款，同比下降逾70%。
2009年年底，中投投资于中国以外的资金约为811亿美元，去年的海外投资录得11.7%的回报率，扭转了2008年亏损2.1%的局面。
麦考马克说，假使中投进一步获得1,000亿美元的注资，预计它将在未来18个月向房地产行业增加100亿美元到150亿美元的投资。他说，当你需要做大手笔投资而又不被人发现，投资房地产基金就是一种很好的选择。
In one of the most high-profile signs so far that foreign capital is swooping in on distressed U.S. property, China's $300 billion sovereign-wealth fund is in advanced talks with Harvard University's endowment to buy the university's stakes in half a dozen U.S.-focused real-estate funds for about $500 million, according to people familiar with the matter.
The potential deal reflects a broader push by China Investment Corp., or CIC, to deploy its capital after staying largely on the sidelines amid the global financial crisis. With more capital available than any other investor in the world, CIC has increased the proportion of assets allocated to higher-risk holdings.
The move also contrasts with the retreat from commercial real estate by many American institutional investors, like Harvard, that are struggling with large investments made in the sector during the boom years.
The transaction is expected to close in the next couple of months, though it could still fall apart as terms haven't been finalized, these people say.
Representatives at CIC and Harvard declined to comment.
CIC is looking to boost its exposure to U.S. real estate, and the fund is hoping to learn from the mistakes of other foreign investors who were clobbered by political and financial repercussions from their acquisitions of U.S. property. For example, there was an enormous backlash against the Japanese two decades ago, when investors from that country purchased such American trophies as Rockefeller Center and the Pebble Beach golf course in California.
To limit the public-relations and political fallout, CIC has targeted investment funds rather than specific properties partly to avoid such a stigma. Besides negotiating with Harvard, CIC recently made a $1 billion commitment to U.S. real-estate funds managed by Brookfield Asset Management Inc., headquartered in both Toronto and New York, and a $1 billion commitment to Cornerstone Real Estate Advisers, of Hartford, Conn., according to people familiar with the matter. Representatives at Brookfield and Cornerstone declined to comment.
CIC also is hoping to avoid the mistake made by the Japanese and others of overpaying for U.S. real estate.
Commercial property today is particularly appealing to foreign investors because values are hovering around 20-year lows and more than $1 trillion of property debt is scheduled to mature in the next five years. That is causing huge headaches for U.S. landlords and creditors, but it means opportunities for cash-rich investors looking to fill funding needs and rack up handsome returns.
Harvard's real-estate portfolio had a loss of more than 50% in the year that ended June 2009, according to the latest available performance report by Harvard Management Co., which oversees the endowment. Since 2009, the $26 billion Harvard endowment, the largest of any major U.S. college, has been trying to pare down its $5.4 billion real-estate portfolio as it seeks to cut its exposure to illiquid assets like real estate.
The fund's aggressive push into this asset classes left it without enough cash to meet its obligations, such as paying for the school's educational and research goals, when the financial crisis erupted two years ago.
Harvard has tapped bankers at Morgan Stanley and Credit Suisse Group to try to sell its partnership interests in a number of real-estate funds, people with knowledge of the situation said. Representatives at both firms declined to comment. Some of the largest real-estate commitments Harvard has made are with fund managers, including Lubert-Adler, Beacon Capital Partners and Westbrook Partners, the people said.
Other foreign investors also are looking to take advantage of low values in U.S. real estate. In the second quarter, investors from Canada, South Korea, Netherlands, Kuwait and other countries acquired about $2.2 billion of skyscrapers and other properties in the U.S., more than five times the amount seen a year earlier, according to research firm Real Capital Analytics.
For instance, a group of investors, including Korean Federation of Community Credit Cooperatives, paid $333 million for a 655,398-square-foot, fully leased office building at 333 Market St. in San Francisco's financial district. In another large deal, CPP Investment Board, which invests on behalf of the Canadian Pension Plan, paid $576 million for a 45% interest in the 1.6 million-square-foot McGraw-Hill Building, at 1221 Ave. of the Americas in Manhattan.
To be sure, the current inflow of foreign capital still pales in comparison to the levels seen from 2003 to early 2008. For example, overseas investments totaled about $8.7 billion in the third quarter of 2007 alone, the peak of the property market.
But the woes in the U.S. marketplace might work in the favor of CIC and other foreign investors. U.S. real-estate executives are lobbying Congress to amend tax law to encourage overseas capital to flow into U.S. real estate, thus helping prevent a further decline in commercial-property values. In the early 1980s, Congress approved a tax on capital gains from foreign sales of U.S. property to discourage foreign investment.
It is unclear how much CIC intends to allocate to U.S. real estate. CIC issued its second-ever annual report on Thursday but didn't say how large a role property investment plays in its portfolio. Michael McCormack, an executive director at Z-Ben Advisors, a consulting firm in Shanghai, estimates that less than $5 billion, or 5%, of the fund's global portfolio is invested in real estate.
People familiar with the situation say that CIC's funds have been almost fully invested and that it has applied to Beijing for a capital injection. At the end of last year, it had about $332.4 billion of assets under management, of which only $16.4 billion was held in cash and deposits, down more than 70% from a year earlier.
About $81.1 billion of CIC's funds were invested outside China at the end of 2009. CIC posted an 11.7% return on its overseas investments last year, reversing a 2.1% decline in 2008.
Mr. McCormack says that assuming CIC gets allocated a further $100 billion, he expects it to invest an additional $10 billion to $15 billion in property over the next 18 months. Real-estate funds are 'a good bet when you need to make big investment and yet still stay under the radar,' he says.