For PDC, the European outposts are a first, with three offices coming on stream simultaneously in Brussels, London and Paris. As managing directors, Stephen Nesterak and Mark Payne share directorial duties for the fledgling European business.

Deals are not ready for unveiling, although signings are close at hand, and Nesterak tells GlobeSt.com that dirt could start to move as early as 60 days from now. The pending deals are with US international clients.

And getting deals is the focus now that the offices are up and running, Nesterak states, but depending on where activity leads them new offices could follow. "We're looking to establish offices around Europe and leverage our relationships with US international users," he states.

For Morgan Stanley, which has offices already in such locales as France, Italy and the UK, Europe is more of a familiar commodity. Now it adds a Frankfurt flag, and will be headed by John Carrafiell, who leads Morgan Stanley's European operation.

The reasons for the outpost--dubbed Morgan Stanley Real Estate Investment GmbH--are clear, Carrafiell states: "Institutional and private investors invest in real estate here more than in any other country, and have invested around €260 billion in real estate funds to date." He says that that is comparable to the market capitalization of all REITs globally.

The plan he says is to "continue to invest" in German assets but also to assist German capital in outside markets. Toward that end, two new products are also being revealed. First is a fund for institutional investors and the second is an open-end real estate mutual fund for private investors. The mutual fund will invest globally and the institutional fund will focus on the Asian-Pacific markets. Both are expected to launch before the end of the year.