Madison International Realty is boosting its exposure to the life-sciences real estate sector by investing in AXA IM Alts’s European platform.

The New York-based private equity firm has taken a minority stake in Kadans Science Partner, which AXA IM Alts acquired in December last year.

Last week, AXA IM Alts announced it had raised €1.9bn for its European life-sciences real estate platform. In June, IPE Real Assets reported on the strong demand from investors to gain access.

It is Madison’s first life-sciences investment in Europe. Last year, it committed $100m (€84.3m) to IQHQ, a US life-sciences real estate owner, operator and developer, with the option to double its investment. Today, Madison confirmed it had committed $200m in total to IQHQ.

Madison said its latest investment would help expand the Kadans platform through acquisitions and the development of existing assets.

The fully integrated developer and operator owns 22 science parks and lab offices encompassing 167,000sqm of space in the Netherlands, UK and Germany. It also owns eight developments which are expected to produce about 120,000sqm of new space by 2024.

Alex Lukesch, managing director at Madison International Realty, said: “Life sciences is a sector which we are already active in in the US but is still relatively new in Europe, and could be poised for further growth.

“The transaction is in line with our broader strategy of both investing where we have strong conviction and of taking stakes with what we believe are best-in-class operators, properties and businesses and working alongside highly-regarded managers in sectors that we believe have the potential to grow significantly.”