Moorfield Group’s fourth real estate fund has exceeded its £100m (€113.3m) fundraising target at first close after attracting a strong global investor base.
The Moorfield Real Estate Fund IV (MREFIV) is expected to have an investment focus on build-to-rent (BTR), student accommodation and logistics, alongside opportunistic mixed-use and infrastructure-led real estate opportunities.
Exceeding target on the first close means the UK real estate specialist can begin making investments. The fund, which has a final target of £350m, has attracted a global investor base from a number of blue-chip European and US pension, endowment and foundation funds, Moorfield said.
The fund will be seeded with a BTR scheme in Manchester’s Media City (Erie Basin) and an office building in Newcastle’s Cobalt Park.
Marc Gilbard, Moorfield Group CEO, said: “We are very pleased with the response we have had from the investors that we have met as part of raising this new fund. Our investors place a great deal of trust in our ability to invest their capital wisely and we will look to be patient and disciplined over the three-year investment period.”
Charles Ferguson-Davie, CIO, said: “We have an exciting pipeline of opportunities in the themes that the fund is looking to invest in. The ‘beds and sheds’ themes, comprising BTR, student accommodation and last mile logistics have compelling demographic, structural and societal drivers that are creating strong demand in markets where there is also limited supply through lack of development in recent years.
“We expect these three themes to make up 75% of the fund, as they have done for [predecessor fund] MREFIII, with the remainder targeted at mixed-use opportunities and infrastructure-led real estate where we can reposition assets and create vibrant communities.”
Moorfield became a private equity real estate investor in 1996. It currently has £1.2bn under management and has raised £1.5bn since 2005 via its value-add MREF funds and its dedicated special purpose fund (MAREF) that owns the senior housing platform Audley.
Moorfield said two of the MREF funds have now been fully realised, and MREFIII is materially invested and recently made its first realisation.
