NORTH AMERICA – KKR has attracted $1.2bn (€880m) of third-party institutional capital for its initial real estate commingled fund, KKR Real Estate Partners Americas.

The fund drew capital from a wide range of investors. 

One of its lead investors, with a $300m commitment, was the Teacher Retirement System of Texas. 

Maine Public Employees Retirement System made a $50m commitment, while Sacramento County Employees Retirement System invested $30m.

Scott Chan, CIO at Sacramento County, said: “The manager has a very strong investment team set-up. They have already been investing some of the capital, which gave us a chance to look at the investments they had completed. 

“We like that 25% of the fund will be invested in Europe, which presents some good investment opportunities in this part of the market cycle.”

KKR made a $300m co-investment into the fund. 

Suzanne Donohoe, head of KKR’s client and partner group, said: “The strong support from the market for the fundraise was due to the compelling nature of the opportunity and the power of the team. 

“We are very excited we were able to attract new and existing KKR investors from leading public and private pension funds, sovereign wealth funds, insurance companies and family offices.”

Real Estate Partners Americas will have an eight-year term from the final close and a three-year investment period, with no more than 70% leverage.

It will invest in North America and Western Europe, including property-level equity, debt, special situations transactions and businesses with significant real estate holdings.