Finnish pensions provider Keva is the anchor investor in the latest fund to be launched by Aberdeen Asset Management’s real estate multi-manager arm.
Aberdeen said it raised US$151m (€141m) for a fund focused on Asia-Pacific and that Keva, which has invested in previous multi-manager funds, was the cornerstone investor.
The fund, led by head of property multi-manager Puay-Ju Kang, will invest in unlisted funds, joint ventures, club deals and co-investments.
It is targeting an internal rate of return of at least 12% over a 12-year life, differentiating it from Aberdeen’s other existing multi-manager funds that pursue more conservative core and core-plus strategies.
Aberdeen said it had also raised an additional US$30m in a second close for one of these funds, bringing the fund’s committed capital to US$100m.
Over the past three months, the property multi-manager business has raised US$215m, some of which was for its ‘secondaries’ platform, which buys and sells fund stakes and co-investments on the secondary market.
Last month, IPE Real Estate reported that Aberdeen is planning to launch a new global secondaries fund, having already created a dedicated European vehicle.
Aberdeen said secondaries were “appealing to a wide set of investors because pricing is often discounted” and they avoid the lag between initial investment and payback – the so-called ‘J-curve’ effect – of traditional funds.
Puay-Ju Kang said: “We think this is a favourable time to be investing in property as pricing remains attractive relative to bonds.
“There are also more ways that investors can invest in this asset class, with the deepening of the secondaries markets and the institutionalisation of sectors once perceived as ‘alternative’, such as student housing, senior housing and self storage.”
