NEW YORK CITY—Add Allianz to the list offinancial firms making cross-border inroads into US real estate viajoint ventures. The US arm of Allianz Real Estate,based here, has forged a partnership with Toronto-basedManulife to co-invest up to $1 billion incommercial properties.

As part of the JV, John Hancock Real Estate,the Boston-based US real estate unit of Manulife Asset ManagementPrivate Markets, has sold Allianz majority interests in two ofoffice properties: the 469,261-square-foot 1100 New York Ave.in Washington, DC; and 191 N. Wacker Dr., which encompasses 733,757square feet in Chicago. Deal terms were not disclosed.

Manulife will maintain a partial interest and continue to manageboth assets through its vertically integrated platform. The twocompanies will continue to seek additional class A office assetsthroughout the US.