European real estate private debt investment manager ARA Venn has raised an initial €200m for its latest whole loan fund.

The Venn Commercial Real Estate Fund II (VeCREF II), backed by ARA Venn’s majority shareholder ARA Asset Management as a cornerstone investor, received capital commitments from investors of the predecessor VeCREF I fund.

The VeCREF I fund deployed over €520m across 24 commercial real estate loans, the manager said.

ARA Venn said the VeCREF II fund will invest in whole loans secured by commercial real estate assets across western Europe, targeting a net internal rate of return of mid to high single digits and regular quarterly income distributions for its investors.

The fund’s investment strategy targets loans secured by value-add real estate opportunities across all asset classes including residential and alternatives.

Paul House, joint managing partner and head of the commercial real estate team, said: “We are delighted to have successfully reached the first close of VeCREF II, particularly in an uncertain market environment which we believe will be very interesting for non-bank lenders who are unencumbered by legacy loan assets and who will, therefore, be able to assist with financing requirements when others are less able to.”

Beatrice Dupont, partner in the commercial real estate team, said: “We are currently analysing a number of exciting opportunities to deploy capital into a market which promises to be very attractive for real estate debt in relative value terms.”

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