MetLife Inc. stepped up its investment in commercial real estate last year, the life insurer announced Thursday.
MetLife Real Estate Investors originated $12.1 billion in commercial real estate loans last year around the globe, up from $11.5 billion in 2013. The company operates its real estate investments through offices in eleven regional offices across the United States as well as offices in London, Mexico City, Tokyo and Santiago, Chile.
The company also invested about $1.7 billion in real estate equity in 2014 in both acquisitions and joint venture partnerships. One of the larger equity transactions was a joint venture with Norges Bank Investment Management of Norway to invest $561 million in One Beacon Street, an office building in Boston.
"Real estate debt and equity have always been one of several key components of MetLife's investment portfolio and are an important part of MetLife's asset-liability matching program," Robert Merck, MetLife's head of real estate and agricultural investments, said in a statement.
"The long-term horizon of many of our real estate investments makes them a good match for the long-term liabilities we write," Merck said.
Among MetLife's largest real estate loans, the company invested: $350 million on The Shops at La Cantera, an open-air shopping mall in San Antonio; $300 million on Market Square, two office buildings in San Francisco; and $315 million on Galleria Dallas and Westin Galleria Hotel, a regional mall and hotel in Dallas.
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