Investing in liquid real assets with DWS

Special features of Liquid Real Assets

Investing in real estate or infrastructure projects usually requires large investments and a long investment horizon. With Liquid Real Assets, it is possible to implement these investment solutions as liquid, easily tradable strategies.

With Liquid Real Assets, our investors gain access to exchange-traded real estate and infrastructure securities as well as to commodities in the form of commodity stocks and direct investments in commodities via futures.

Our active fundamental and research-based approach allows us to make these strategies available for both individual and institutional investors.

DWS is one of the largest managers in Liquid Real Asset with assets under management amounting to around $ 19bn. Most of the assets are invested in infrastructure and real estate securities. In addition, in the US we offer investments in other real assets and commodities, such as gold and precious metals.

Investment process of the DWS Liquid Real Asset Strategies

Each asset class in Liquid Real Assets has a specific approach, but all have in common active stock selection that focuses on fundamental research. With the support of a large international portfolio management and analyst team, we are able to analyse the investment universe accurately.

Our teams also use the global resources of the Alternatives platform specialists who invest directly in real estate and infrastructure. The portfolio management teams also have access to the integrated research & strategy team.

Portfolio construction is based on bottom-up selection for which we use our own methodology with 28 discrete categories.

Strengths of the DWS Liquid Real Asstes Strategies

Experienced Team

About 30 investment specialists with many years of experience in the company and the industry work for the Liquid Real Assets Team.

Global approach

Strategic allocation and risk management is based on an investment process focusing on active stock selection through regional investment teams with a global top-down approach

Customization

Different investment solutions via funds, individual mandates or sub-advisory agreements allow for individual preferences

Overview of the DWS Liquid Real Assets Strategies

Real Estate Securities

The aim of the Global Real Estate team is to maximize risk-adjusted returns. For this purpose, securities are identified that are relatively lowly valued compared to their peers. The team offers a variety of investment strategies for both individual accounts (segregated accounts) and fund solutions, with the following regional orientations:

Global
International (ex USA)
Regional, including US, Asia, Australia and Europe

Infrastructure Securities

The investment process of the Infrastructure team uses leading discounted cash flow methods and strict he quality assessments. This allows for a full audit of companies, industries, regions and capital markets.

Infrastructure investments include:

Transport, for example airports, harbors, toll roads, tunnels, bridges
Utilities from the gas, electricity and water sectors
Energy companies in the fields of conventional energy, wind, solar, hydro, biomass
Warehouse, communications infrastructure, parking garages
Social infrastructure such as educational institutions, hospitals and public transport

Real Assets Commodities

The Commodity Investment team follows an active investment approach based on a fundamental, research-based process. Multiple earnings factors are taken into account. The team offers products and investment solutions in these areas:

Gold and precious metals
Commodity stocks
Commodity related securities

The DWS Liquid Real Assets Team

John Vojticek

Head and Chief Investment Officer of Liquid Real Assets

Based in: Chicago, IL

Infrastructure

Real Estate

Real estate investing provides opportunities through both equity and debt to diversify returns and generate cash flow with a relatively low correlation to traditional investments.

Sustainable Investments

DWS's Sustainable Investments team creates solutions for institutional, private investors, development banks, and governments, who share common social and environmental investment objectives and seek attractive financial returns.