Why Europe Must Open Access to Equity Markets: Phase II In March 2011, we published Why Europe Must Open Access to Equity Markets. Phase II of this paper, issued in January 2012, continues to advocate a more flexible approach to capital raising in Europe and further lays out a roadmap of conditions to waive pre-emptive rights, designed to address the primary concerns that have given rise to the strong culture of pre-emptive rights in Europe.  Viewpoint: What History Tells Us About REITs, Inflation and Rising Rates This Viewpoint explores the historical relationships of REITs, rising rates and inflation. Perhaps these are not near-term concerns, in view of the slowing U.S. economy. But in all likelihood, they will be byproducts of the next growth cycle. With this in mind, it’s not too soon to invest in real asset strategies. Today, REITs are a solid choice, based on their historical performance in both easing and rising periods of inflation (and rising interest rates).  The Truth About Real Estate Allocations Part II: Evaluating Risk and Return In an update to our June 2010 study, we discuss the significant and recurring outperformance of listed real estate compared with nearly all forms of private real estate funds. We also show how traditional real estate allocation models fail to account for the value of liquidity and often misjudge long-term fundamental risk by focusing on short-term volatility. These factors suggest that a rational, merit-based reallocation should drive capital flows away from core and value added private real estate funds and into listed REITs.  Return of the Dividend Growers: An Inflection Point in the Recovery Historically, quality companies with stable, growing dividends have generated better returns with less volatility than those that do not pay dividends. In the latest economic cycle, however, dividend growers have been left behind in the stimulus-induced rally among lower-quality stocks. We believe the cycle is entering a new phase in which investors will once again gravitate toward companies that can demonstrate consistent cash flow growth. In this paper, we examine past trends for dividend-growth stocks and frame our optimism about their future.  A Case for REITs as a Hedge Against Inflation Investors concerned that inflation is on the rise may want to consider commercial real estate, particularly REITs. Not only are they a time-tested hedge against inflation, many of the underlying assets are trading at prices below replacement costs, and new supply in the pipeline is limited. Portfolio Manager Scott Crowe frames these issues in this Q&A.  Emerging Market Real Estate Securities: Risk/Return Profile and Asset Allocation We believe that emerging markets real estate securities offer a unique way to capitalize on the high growth of emerging market economies. But, investors should consider carefully the macroeconomic and market factors of each country, along with the liquidity features, management quality, corporate governance and intrinsic enterprise characteristics of each underlying company.  Why Europe Must Open Access to Equity Markets Now that the credit crisis has passed–and many real estate companies are seeking to take advantage of the deleveraging process by acquiring property from over-leveraged landlords–we continue to believe that real estate company shareholders are disadvantaged by pre-emptive rights. As one of the largest global investors in real estate securities, we believe it is time shareholders in the U.K. and Continental Europe allow greater flexibility to management in raising equity capital.  Cohen & Steers Global Realty Majors Index Guide The Cohen & Steers Global Realty Majors Index represents the top 75 companies that are leading the securitization of real estate globally.  Global Real Estate: An Allocation Not a Trade  The Truth About Real Estate Allocations As the commercial real estate sector in the U.S. transitions from collapse to recovery, we believe that institutional investors are re-evaluating the composition of their real estate allocations.

Viewpoint: Opportunities in Preferred Securities: An Evolving Asset Class in an Era of Financial Reform Portfolio manager Bill Scapell sheds light on the financial regulatory reforms that will affect U.S. and international banks—the largest issuers of preferred securities. They believe there will be opportunities amid the change.  Q&A: When Interest Rates Rise: Opportunity and Risks in Today’s Preferred Securities Market Interest rates will rise—it’s just a matter of when. In this piece, we answer investors’ questions about how higher rates will affect preferred securities.  Viewpoint: Sizing Up the Preferred Market: The World Beyond Investment-Grade Exchange-Traded Issues Preferred securities took a beating in the financial crisis of 2008-2009 (along with the banks that issue so many of them). But there are some interesting stories and attractive opportunities among the “fallen angels.”  Privatization Protection for REIT Preferreds The issuance of REIT preferred securities is likely to accelerate as the cycle for acquisition finance advances and existing issues are refinanced at lower rates. Before participating in these new issues, Cohen & Steers president and CIO, Joseph Harvey, believes underwriters and investors should demand privatization protection and some other structural changes.

Viewpoint:Taking Stock in Global Infrastructure Opportunities Over the next 20 years, global infrastructure spending could top $40 trillion, as developed economies update aging assets and emerging economies build out basic services. These trends are driving opportunities throughout the transportation, energy, utilities and communications industries. Our investment case explores these themes while delving into the inherent characteristics that make listed infrastructure attractive, such as stable income and growth, with predictable income that is often linked to inflation.

The Elements of Investing in Real Assets In this paper, we analyze the fundamentals and performance profiles of various real asset categories, as we explore the characteristics and drivers of true economic inflation. Our research is focused on commodities, natural resource equities and REITs–all tangible hard assets whose values are driven by supply constraints and rising replacement costs. For this reason, these groups have the potential to perform when economic growth is strong and inflation is rising. But this is not a precondition, as real assets also can perform well in a “no-growth-to-slow-growth” economy.