Deutsche Asset & Wealth Management has closed its first senior commercial real estate debt fund, raising €500m.

The investment manager said it will write loans against German real estate – both in the commercial and residential sectors.

“The capital raise demonstrates the increasing demand for real estate loans as an alternative to corporate and government bonds,” said Andrea Vanni, head of European real estate debt investments for Deutsche AWM.

The new vehicle, structured as a German Spezialfonds, will provide debt with loan-to-value ratios of up to 60% secured against office, retail, residential and logistics assets.

Loan maturity will range from three to 10 years.

The firm said it used its Alternative Asset Management arm in the UK to raise the capital.

It is not known where Deutsche AWM raised the capital. However, institutional investors have backed similar debt funds in this cycle. Manager iii-investments was the first real estate debt fund to structure as a Spezialfonds on behalf of a German pension fund in 2012The German real estate fund manager was awarded a mandate to establish a €200m debt vehicle.