NORTH AMERICA – Cerberus Capital Management has raised $1.4bn (€1bn) of equity for its latest commingled fund, Cerberus Institutional Real Estate Partners III.

The main focus of the distressed investments for the fund will be Europe and the US. 

Most of the activity in Europe will be in Spain, the UK and Germany. 

On a secondary basis, deals will be considered in Italy and Ireland. 

It will be looking for transactions in the major markets in the US.

Cerberus has already invested around $400m of the fund in Europe and the US. 

These have included a portfolio of nine German shopping centres from Wells Fargo, a commercial real estate portfolio in the UK from Lloyd’s of London and a loan portfolio in Spain.

The amount of capital raised by Cerberus for Partners III was $400m more than it had originally targeted.

The real estate manager attracted a wide range of investors into the fund, including a $150m commitment from the Florida State Board of Administration and a $50m commitment from the New York State Teachers Retirement System. 

Cerberus will be looking at investing in a variety of forms for Partners III, including CMBS and

RMBS distressed securities, non-performing loan pools, individual distressed bank loans secured by property, gap capital for asset recapitalisations, distressed real estate assets foreclosed by lenders and monetising corporate real estate in banks and other companies that need liquidity.