Ardstone raises €110m at first close for Irish resi development fund

European real estate manager Ardstone Capital has raised €110 mln of equity at the first closing of Ardstone Residential Partners, a fund targeting residential development in Ireland and particularly in Dublin’s commuter belt.

Having broken the first close target from four investors, Ardstone expects to 'quickly secure' the remaining equity commitments to reach its €200 mln hard-cap target.

Ardstone Residential Partners (ARP) is Ardstone’s third fund since 2013. The fund's mandate is to generate a 15% triple net annual return to investors. It is targeting zoned and planned residential land, with the Ardstone platform overseeing the house building and sales process.

This strategy marks Ardstone’s third very specific theme since 2012, having partnered with CBRE GIP for AROF, a UK regional office strategy and again for Ardstone Value Partners, a Dublin office and retail value-add strategy.

The strategy will be overseen by Steve Cassidy, who joined Ardstone 18 months ago. He previously ran the Savills development land department for 15 years.

'We are very pleased to have completed a successful first closing with four very high quality investors, two Irish and two European, for Ardstone Residential Partners, our Irish house-building strategy,' said Donal O’Neill, co-founder of Ardstone. 'We have completed our first two investments and together with the others in due diligence will ensure ARP gets appropriate exposure to the sector and we can start delivering houses into the under-supplied market quickly.'

Ardstone Capital is an independent real estate manager, owned and managed by its principals. It specialises in real estate investment strategies across the UK and Western Europe.