Fort Worth-based American Beacon is moving into real estate investing, by taking over operations on a platform previously operated by Orlando investor, CNL Fund Advisors Company. At $35m, the move is a modest first start in the sector for American Beacon, but with $42bn assets under management and nearly 20 other funds, worth $14.3bn as of January, the firm says it’s ready to take on more. The CNL fund, now renamed the American Beacon Global Real Estate Fund, invests in securities including common equities, preferred equities and convertible debt issued by real estate and real estate-related companies located primarily in North America, Europe and the Asia-Pacific. CB Richard Ellis Global Real Estate Securities is the sub-advisor, bookrunning the investments through outsourced real estate investment trust and similar vehicles. Kirk Brown, the primary manager of the new fund for American Beacon, said there is no recourse to actual real estate, but they felt the deal made sense considering his company’s solid infrastructure. “We had the distribution channels in place to best execute the cross-over,” said Kirk Brown, the primary manager of the new fund. “This fund fits nicely into what we do. It’s a first for us to go into real estate, but we were impressed with managers at CB Richard Ellis.” Kirk said that he himself went up to Baltimore to meet the CB Richard Ellis team that would be advising and handling the fund. Once back in Fort Worth, American Beacon performed necessary due diligence on the firm and everything checked-out. He adds that American Beacon is now “looking for more opportunities” in the real estate sector. Write to Jacob Gaffney.