In recent years, several investment managers have deployed their own versions of the “special sauce” to super-size their assets under management and jump to the top of the global real estate investment manager rankings. Through aggressive growth and M&A strategies Brookfield Asset Management, CBRE Global Investors and The Blackstone Group have distanced themselves from the rest of the pack, based on a global survey of real estate investment managers conducted by Property Funds Research (PFR) and Institutional Real Estate, Inc (IREI).

The industry’s Big Three maintained a sizeable lead over thei