US - CB Richard Ellis Investors (CBREI) has raised $1.18bn (€984m) from 33 investors for its latest commingled fund: CB Richard Ellis Strategic Partners US IV, L.P. The fund was oversubscribed with an original target raise of $800m-$900m.
Many of the commingled funds that have closed over the past year have raised more capital than intended. The situation is being attributed to pension funds which have a large appetite for real estate and a preference for commingled fund vehicles.
One of the bigger supporters of the new CBREI fund is The Townsend Group, a leading pension fund real estate consultant. Many of its clients have invested including the Los Angeles City Employees Retirement System ($25m) and the Ohio Police & Fire Pension fund ($20m).
A Townsend spokesman said the firm felt very good about the track record that CB Richard Ellis Investors had established with the Strategic Partners Funds. “It has shown solid performance on 50 investments for the three previous funds and on more than 100 transactions if you include separate accounts with the same investment strategy.”
There are no assets in Strategic Partners IV at this time. The investment strategy for the fund is for value-added. It will buy existing assets and improve them through redevelopment, repositioning or re-leasing.
All four major property types will be acquired for the fund. Deals will be considered nationwide in the major metropolitan areas.
CBREI has specific markets in mind for office, industrial and apartments. Office transactions are being sought in Southern California, New York, New Jersey and Washington, D.C.
The industrial deals will be focused on the “gateway cities”. One example would be the “Inland Empire” region of Southern California. The apartment purchases will be made in the major cities of the Atlantic and Pacific seaboards.
