Aquila Capital is planning to launch three new real estate strategies in the current quarter of this year, according to two of the company’s real estate senior managers.
Speaking to IPE Real Assets, Rolf Zarnekow and Olaf Bruns, who head investments and fund management, respectively, said the Hamburg-based firm will begin fundraising for its first Southern Europe logistics fund targeting institutional equity between €200m and €250m.
Leveraged at 50%, the fund will have an investment capacity of up to €500m.
The new fund will target logistics in Spain, Portugal and Italy, Zarnekow said.
Bruns said the new fund will have a core-and-core-plus strategy and target a net internal rate of return of between 7% to 8%.
The fund will also target some logistics assets with short-term leases offering the potential to increase rental income.
Bruns said Aquila is also raising capital for a fund focused on Spanish residential developments, as well as a fund targeting rented-residential properties in cities such as Madrid, Barcelona and Malaga.
The asset manager is looking to raise between €200m to €300m to buy existing residential assets.
Aquila established its real estate team in Spain in 2012.
Zarnekow attributes Aquila’s expansion to the recovery of the Spanish market following the financial crises a decade ago.
In line with the company’s growth plans, the Madrid team is expected to grow from 17 currently to around 30, he said.
