THE HAGUE, NETHERLANDS-Locally based property fund manager ING Real Estate says Dutch retail funds were its most popular in 2005, attracting euro 224 million of the euro 400 million of new money that investors added to its funds last year. Total inflow into the funds in 2005 was euro 100 million more than ING funds attracted in 2003 and 2004 combined.

ING Real Estate's funds are unlisted investment funds for institutional investors, such as pension funds and insurance companies. As of the end of 2005, ING's Dutch retail funds had eur 1.57 billion assets under management. Realized total returns for the funds in 2005 were 13.8% and 15.9% respectively, according to ING.

The ING Dutch office fund recorded an inflow for the first time in two years, attracting eur 8 million. So far in 2006, it has attracted another eur 30 million, according to ING. The office fund has about eur 1.65 billion in assets under management. The fund's total return in 2005 was 8.9%.

The ING Dutch residential funds attracted eur 174 million of new money. The residential funds ended 2005 with eur 925 million assets under management. The funds had total returns in 2005 of about 13.2%.

In January, ING Real Estate sold a 320-unit twin-tower apartment and retail complex in Shanghai to Concord Land Ltd., a Hong Kong-based company. The sale price was "more than $100 million," a source at ING tells GlobeSt.com. The Downtown property was completed in late 1998. ING owned it for 3.5 years, during which time it upgraded lobbies and other public areas and reworked the tenant mix in the retail podium. Its physical occupancy at the time of sale was around 90%, according to the source.

"We plan to grow our assets under management in Asia rapidly in the coming years and China will play an important part in that," Robert Lie, chief executive for ING Real Estate Investment Management Asia, said recently.

Indeed, ING Real Estate reportedly plans to set up a $300-million fund by the second quarter and fill it with mainland China properties in order to cash in on the country's rapid urbanization. ING's second closed-end fund focused on mainland China, and it will be targeted at Asian, European and American institutional investors who do not wish to enter the market directly, according to published reports.