MGPA raises $5.2 bln for Asian, European property

HONG KONG, June 16 (Reuters) - Property fund management firm MGPA has raised a $3.9 billion fund to invest in Asia and another, worth $1.3 billion for Europe, hoping to revamp buildings and pick up cheap assets as prices fall.

The company, 49 percent-owned by Australia's Macquarie Bank (MQG.AX: Quote, Profile, Research), said in a statement it had tapped over 65 investors from North America, Australia, Europe and the Middle East.

Boosted by borrowing, the Asia fund will have $15.6 billion of spending power. More than half its equity, about $2.2 billion, has already been spent in Singapore, Japan, China and Thailand.

The fund will also look to pour money into South Korea, Malaysia, Taiwan and Australia.

"We're witnessing less competition for deals, especially where high levels of leverage and financial engineering were driving certain buyers," said MGPA chairman and chief executive Jim Quille.

MGPA's European fund will have $5.2 billion of spending power, and has already bought residential assets in Wroclaw, Poland, and has a site for development in Athens, Greece.

"We'll be focusing on opportunities from dislocation and distress in Western Europe as well as continuing growth and convergence in Central and Eastern Europe," said Alex Jeffrey, MGPA's chief executive for Europe. (Reporting by Dominic Whiting; editing by Anne Marie Roantree)