M7 Real Estate raises €65m at first close for new European value-add fund

M7 Real Estate’s fifth European value-add property fund has raised €65m at first close.

Including leverage, M7 Real Estate Investment Partners V (M7 EREIP V) will have a total investment capacity of over €280m.

The manger said M7 EREIP V received the equity commitments from 25 investors including high-net-worth investors, family offices, and sovereign wealth from Europe, Hong Kong and the Middle East.

In November 2017, M7 raised €400m at the close of M7 EREIP IV. The amount raised provided the fund, its largest fund to date, with a total investment capacity of over €800m, including gearing.

Like its predecessors, M7 EREIP V targets multi-let commercial real estate opportunities in Germany, the Netherlands, Ireland and Scandinavia.

The manager said €148m has already been deployed on behalf of the fund on initial investments in office, industrial and retail warehouse assets and portfolios.

The acquired assets comprise 205,000sqm of space across 27 properties in Denmark, The Netherlands, Germany and Ireland.

M7 said it has already identified a number of active asset management initiatives to improve the occupancy and performance of the properties while an active pipeline of about €130m in potential future acquisitions is also in place.

Richard Croft, M7’s CEO said: “This latest fund in our pan-European series demonstrates the continued institutional demand for value-add real estate in these markets across Europe.

“Drawing upon our expertise in sourcing and executing transactions of this kind, we have been actively deploying the capital raised into a strong pipeline of opportunities and will continue to do so over the coming months.”