Hong Kong-based Gaw Capital has won a US$900m (€766m) mandate from an unnamed global institutional investor to invest in educational facilities and real estate.

The money will be split between establishment of an educational portfolio and investment in real estate assets, including Gaw Capital’s Gateway Real Estate Fund VI, which raised US$2.2m last December.

IPE Real Assets understands that, with the real estate part of the mandate, the manager has the option of investing part of the equity in its existing real estate funds.

Gaw Capital said it would invest in education platforms in major Asian cities.

Gaw Capital intends to partner and work with top-tier school operators through greenfield or brownfield developments and through acquisition of existing properties.

One such investment will be in the Stellart International School of Arts, located in Guangzhou, Southern China. Gaw Capital Partners developed the college, which specialises in creative art and design.

Christina Gaw, managing principal and head of capital markets, said: “Investor demand for education and other value-add and opportunistic opportunities in Asia reinforces our belief that such investments will play an increasingly-important role in real estate portfolios moving forward.”

Aside from its Gateway Fund series targetting Asia-Pacific, Gaw manages opportunistic funds in Vietnam and the US, along with a Pan-Asia Hospitality Fund and a European Hospitality Fund.

The range of Gaw funds has been expanded in recent years to include a sizable logistics platform, a medical-asset-backed platform, a mini-storage platform, premium outlet malls, and an education-related platform.

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