Principal Real Estate Investors today announced the hiring of Shern-Ling Koh and Julian Mittag as portfolio managers within the Global Real Estate Property Securities team. Both Koh and Mittag will be based in Singapore where they will be responsible for identifying investment opportunities within the Asia Pacific region.

"We are pleased to welcome Shern and Julian to the team, each with extensive experience in Asia real estate," said Kelly Rush, chief investment officer of global real estate securities at Principal Real Estate Investors. "Given the growth and wide range of distinct markets in Asia, adding portfolio management depth allows our team to further evolve alongside the region."

Most recently, Koh served as the CEO and CIO at OSK International Asset Management, where he managed all investment mandates for their public and private equity business in Singapore. Previous to his work at OSK International, Koh was an investment analyst at Fidelity International Ltd., responsible for identifying publicly listed real estate securities investment opportunities within Asia for Fidelity equity funds, including its global real estate fund. Koh has a bachelor's degree in economics from Cambridge University, a master's degree in economics from Yale and a master's of business administration from Harvard.

Mittag joins Principal Real Estate Investors from SEB Asset Management, where he was an Asia real estate securities portfolio manager focusing on investing in real estate stocks. Mittag graduated from the University of Applied Sciences Wiesbaden with a master's degree in international industrial engineering. He is a Certified Real Estate Investment Analyst (CREA) from the Society of Investment Professionals in Germany in cooperation with the International Real Estate Business School Regensburg (IREBS).

Koh and Mittag will be part of the 13-member team responsible for managing global real estate strategies managed by Principal Real Estate Investors.

About Principal Real Estate Investors
Principal Real Estate Investors manages or subadvises $47.8 billion in commercial real estate assets1. The firm's real estate capabilities include both public and private equity and debt investment alternatives. Principal Real Estate Investors is the dedicated real estate group of Principal Global Investors, a diversified asset management organization and a member of the Principal Financial Group®.

About Principal Global Investors
Principal Global Investors is a diversified asset management organization and a member of the Principal Financial Group®, with expertise in equities, fixed income and real estate investments, as well as specialized overlay and advisory services. Principal Global Investors manages $300 billion in assets2 primarily for retirement plans and other institutional clients3.

About the Principal Financial Group
The Principal Financial Group® (The Principal®)4 is a global investment management leader offering retirement services, insurance solutions and asset management. The Principal offers businesses, individuals and institutional clients a wide range of financial products and services, including retirement, asset management and insurance through its diverse family of financial services companies. Founded in 1879 and a member of the FORTUNE 500®, the Principal Financial Group has $466.2 billion in assets under management5 and serves some 19.0 million customers worldwide from offices in Asia, Australia, Europe, Latin America and the United States. Principal Financial Group, Inc. is traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol PFG. For more information, visit www.principal.com.

1 As of Sept. 30, 2013.

2 As of Sept. 30, 2013.

3 Principal Global Investors is the asset management arm of the Principal Financial Group ® (The Principal ®) and includes the asset management operations of the following subsidiaries of The Principal: Principal Global Investors, LLC; Principal Real Estate Investors, LLC; Principal Enterprise Capital, LLC; Liongate Capital Management LLP; Spectrum Asset Management, Inc.; Post Advisory Group, LLC; Columbus Circle Investors; Edge Asset Management, Inc.; Morley Financial Services Inc.; Finisterre Capital, LLP; Origin Asset Management, LLP; Principal Global Investors (Europe) Limited; Principal Global Investors (Singapore) Ltd.; Principal Global Investors (Australia) Ltd.; Principal Global Investors (Japan) Ltd.; Principal Global Investors (Hong Kong) Ltd.; CIMB-Principal Islamic Asset Management Sdn. Bhd.; and the majority owned affiliates of Principal International, Inc. Assets under management includes assets managed by investment professionals of Principal Global Investors under dual employee arrangements with other subsidiaries of The Principal and assets managed in accordance with investment advice provided by Principal Global Investors through the delivery of a model.

4 "The Principal Financial Group" and "The Principal" are registered service marks of Principal Financial Services, Inc., a member of the Principal Financial Group.

5 As of Sept. 30, 2013.

Principal Financial Group
Jaime Naig, 515-247-0798
naig.jaime@principal.com