GI Partners has raised an initial $1.45bn (€1.69bn) for its new US open-ended core-plus life science and technology-related real estate fund.

GI Partners said the amount raised for the GI Real Estate Essential Tech + Science Fund’s (ETS Fund) initial fundraising period exceeded the fund’s hard cap.

As previously reported, the Illinois State Universities Retirement System and the Employees Retirement System of Texas committed $75m and $100m respectively to the fund.

Philip Yau, a managing director of GI Partners, said the ETS Fund’s diverse investor base includes public pensions, corporate pensions, financial institutions, and investment management firms from the US, Canada, and Europe.

“We are grateful to our limited partners for the confidence they have entrusted in our team, strategy and experience and appreciate their support in launching the firm’s first commingled real estate fund.” 

The manager said the ETS Fund acquires data centre properties, life sciences buildings, and “always-on” R&D facilities within the office and industrial sectors.

Since launching in 2021, the fund has acquired eight properties in ”key growth markets”, including the Bay Area, CA; the greater Boston area, MA market; Philadelphia, PA; and Research Triangle Park, NC, GI Partners said.

John Sheputis, managing director of GI Partners and head of the ETS Fund, said: “GI Partners has been investing in tech and science real estate for over 20 years, and that experience provides us with a critical competitive advantage when evaluating assets.

”Our team’s familiarity with markets and operators helps us identify and execute on lower-risk growth opportunities in these sectors. We created the ETS Fund to build a diverse portfolio of tech and science assets which will provide a mix of income and growth.”

John Saer, managing director of GI Partners and head of GI Real Estate, said: ”We have a long history of investing in specialised real estate sectors, and see technology and life sciences assets as offering the unique traits of strong secular growth fundamentals and resilience through cycles.

“Our team of over 30 professionals is very excited at the opportunities we’re seeing that extend our tech and science real estate experience into the core plus space.”

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