US real estate offers once-in-a-century opportunity, ex-banker says

Three years after leaving Merrill Lynch, Greg Peng is launching his own property fund to invest Chinese money in the US recovery story, with a target of US$1 billion by the end of this year.

He has closed a few deals in New York and Chicago, totalling US$300 million so far.

The former banker plans to set up a blind pool of up to US$800 million this year, to capture the explosive outflow of Chinese cash into foreign property assets expected in the next two to four years.

"Chinese money is flooding outward like a tsunami," Peng told the South China Morning Post.

He sees "a once-in-a-century opportunity" in a rare confluence of factors: the concern about an economic slowdown in China and emigration from the country, the rising number of Chinese studying abroad, and the gradual rise in US asset prices.

"There are many good deals right now," Peng said.

"But in two years, you will find deals are much less attractive," he added.