Paris-based fund manager AEW Europe and its parent company, Natixis Asset Management, have completed the second close of their Senior European Loan Fund II, increasing commitments so far to €400 mln.
Senior European Loan Fund II1 (SELF II), dedicated to institutional investors, initially raised €162 mln at its first close in 2016. The second close tapped both French and international investors.
Cyril Hoyaux, head of the European debt platform, at AEW Europe, said: 'This new closing illustrates the attractiveness of our pan-European investment strategy, which allows us to actively select opportunities in the most dynamic real estate markets, enabling us to offer our clients the best risk adjusted returns. This second closing will bring the total funds raised by our common debt platform to close to €1 bn.'
A third closing is expected during the first half of 2017 to bring total commitments to the fund to €750 mln.
The growth of their joint activity has led AEW and Natixis Asset Management to reinforce their dedicated real estate debt fund team, co-managed by Arnaud Heck at Natixis Asset Management and Hoyaux at AEW.
Arnaud Heck, head of Real Estate Finance at Natixis Asset Management, commented: 'The strengthening of our team, within the framework of the partnership set up since 2012, aims at accelerating our investment capacity. We look forward to further developing our joint debt platform in response to growing investors’ appetite for real estate debt.'
To date SELF II has secured three investments in France, Germany and Italy totalling €75 mln, while four additional transactions amounting to €100 mln are underway, which would bring total investments to 44% of the funds raised.
