Round Hill Capital has moved into the US real estate market by partnering with multifamily specialist Cortland.
The investment firm has to date invested in European residential, student housing and light industrial markets.
Round Hill has already bought The Exchange at North Haven, a 411-unit inner suburban apartment community in Atlanta, Georgia, which Cortland will manage.
Michael Bickford, founder and CEO of Round Hill Capital, said: “This investment represents a strategic first step for Round Hill, as we carefully enter the US real estate market, and a solid base to expand our investment platform in the select cities in the Americas, which continue to exhibit attractive investment fundamentals and strong future growth drivers.”
Rob Reiskin, a senior managing director and head of Round Hill Americas, said the company had “been carefully evaluating the US real estate market” since 2010, “building a team and seeking strategic opportunities to partner with best-in-class operators and managers”.
He said Round Hill is expected “to make further investments through our strong identified investment pipeline”.
In a separate announcement, Round Hill and TPG Real Estate have entered a joint venture to invest in student housing in Portugal in joint venture with TPG Real Estate.
The two companies have bought a 39,000sqm site at Campo Pequeno in central Lisbon to build 390 purpose-built student accommodation beds and up to 250 residential apartments.
No financial details were disclosed.
Michael Abel, a partner at TPG Real Estate, said: “Driven by Portugal’s strong economy, we have witnessed increasing demand for high-quality, convenient, and centralised living spaces in Lisbon.
“We believe that TPG Real Estate’s deep sector experience, combined with Round Hill’s understanding of Europe’s residential and student housing sectors, will create an exciting partnership that uniquely positions us to take advantage of this market opportunity.”
Bickford said: “The acquisition of the development asset at Campo Pequeno is TPG Real Estate and Round Hill’s first joint transaction in Portugal and Round Hill remains committed to continuing to look to make further investments in student housing and residential property in line with our existing strategy and growth plans in the country and in other select European markets.”
So far this year, Round Hill has been engaged in a number of partnerships including a joint venture with KKR to invest in a mixed student and residential housing development in the Netherlands. The partnership bought a second student housing development last month.
Also last month, Round Hill and Ivanhoé Cambridge partnered to buy nine residential assets in Berlin. And last week, a newly created Irish residential property venture, set up by QuadReal Property Group and Round Hill, bought its first build-to-rent development.
