Hines has appointed Jorge Duarte, the former European core property fund manager at Barings, to lead its new European open-ended core-plus property fund.

The international real estate firm said the Hines European Property Partners (HEPP) fund – expected to be launched later this year – aims to raise €1bn in the first 12 months from launch.

HEPP will seek to acquire and develop sustainable assets across a range of sectors including logistics, office, living – residential, student and senior housing.

HEPP will sit alongside its global sister funds, Hines US Property Partners (HUSPP) and Hines Asia Property Partners (HAPP), the open-ended core-plus funds launched last year. The two funds have already secured $2.5bn in combined commitments, Hines said.

In Europe, Hines already manages the Hines European Core Fund and the Hines European Value Fund series.

Hines said Duarte has been appointed as the HEPP fund’s manager. He joins Hines from Barings, where he worked for over six years, most recently as managing director and head of core investing in Europe.

Prior to that, he spent five years at AXA IM Real Assets, where he worked as fund manager of a pan-European value-add fund, and a further three years as country manager – southern Europe at Howard Holdings.

Alex Knapp, CIO for Europe at Hines, said: “The success of HUSPP and HAPP indicates the global appetite for diversified and open-ended funds capable of data-driven, cross-sector investment and value creation.

”HEPP will add to this family of funds, while benefiting from Hines’ established sector-leading credentials in ESG focused European development and investment through our core and value funds.” 

Duarte said “after spending more than 20 years in portfolio analysis and fund management, the opportunity to work alongside real estate specialists to establish a dynamic new vehicle in Europe drew me to Hines.

”The firm’s boots-on-the-ground approach, deep sector and technical expertise, and access to global capital is impressive and provides a strong platform to create another unique and high-quality vehicle for real estate investment in Europe.”

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