What's New In Investments, Funds? – Hines, 55ip

Hines, a Houston-based real assets investment manager, has completed a Delaware Statutory Trust (DST) offering of about $591 million, the largest in its program to date, according to the source article. The offering, HREX 9 DST, was run by Hines Private Wealth Solutions and holds two apartment properties with 946 units between them: Gables Station, a 495-unit property in Coral Gables, Florida, and Left Bank, a 451-unit property in Chicago's Fulton Market and West Loop district. The structure allowed qualified investors to complete like-kind exchanges under Section 1031 of the Internal Revenue Code, deferring capital gains tax on property sales. Under 1031 rules, replacement property must be identified within 45 days and the exchange completed within 180 days.

Both assets came from Hines Global Income Trust, a public, non-listed REIT sponsored by Hines that began operating in 2014. The REIT had a gross asset value of about $7.29 billion at September 30, 2026. Since launching Hines Real Estate Exchange in 2022, Hines has raised more than $1.9 billion from qualified investors. The firm manages about $91 billion of assets for institutional and private wealth clients and employs 4,600 people across 29 countries. Alfonso Munk, global co-head of investment management at Hines, grounded the firm's case for the sector in supply: "Our conviction in living is grounded in what we believe to be durable demand and a sharply-reduced pipeline of new supply in many US markets."

Separately, 55ip has expanded its unified managed account (UMA) capabilities to the registered investment advisor (RIA) channel, starting with separately managed accounts (SMAs) from JP Morgan Asset Management and BlackRock. The platform places managed or custom model portfolios of exchange-traded funds and mutual funds in a single account alongside an active equity SMA. Its ActiveTax Technology provides tax transition recommendations and ongoing tax management across the whole account, and the firm said additional asset managers are expected to join later this year. Previously, 55ip offered tax-managed UMAs only to selected enterprise partners; its RIA offering began with models and then added SMAs and direct indexing.

JP Morgan Asset Management acquired 55ip from fintech incubator The TIFIN Group in a deal that completed at the end of 2020. 55ip continues to operate under its own brand and works with third-party asset managers. Cerulli Associates projects US UMA assets will reach about $3.7 trillion by the end of 2026, with advisors using UMAs for tax management, portfolio transitions, diversification across strategies, and operational efficiency.