JP Morgan Asset Management has been revealed as the investment manager for Samsung SRA’s real estate debt fund for South Korean investors.
Last week, IPE Real Estate reported that the real estate investment management arm of Samsung Life Insurance had raised US$270m (€249m) for its first-ever property debt fund.
JP Morgan said its global real assets division will act as investment manager for the fund, which will target mezzanine investments in US office markets.
Samsung SRA launched the fund specifically for South Korean institutional investors to access mezzanine debt on core office assets in the central business districts of New York, Boston, Chicago, San Francisco, Washington, DC and Los Angeles.
JP Morgan said it expects to deploy the US$270m of capital raised in less than a year by acquiring fixed-rate mezzanine notes of up to US$150m with a loan-to-value ratios up to 65%.
The fund has already closed its first investment, a $109m subordinate debt position on a class-A office tower in Chicago.
JP Morgan’s real assets division has US$61bn in US real estate assets under management, of which $17.4bn is in asset-level debt.
Samsung SRA has been investing in real estate equity and debt in South Korea, the US and Europe since it was established in 2012. It now has approximately US$2bn in assets under management.
Young Chai, CIO at Samsung SRA, said: “This partnership with JP Morgan Asset Management marks a new phase of growth for us as we build on our successes in global real estate investing with our first commingled mezzanine debt fund.”
Candace Chao, head of mezzanine acquisitions at JP Morgan, said: “Mezzanine debt can help provide investors the yield and diversification they seek, as well as tax-efficient exposure to the US real estate market for non-US investors.”
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