AXA raises €643 mln for European value-add venture II

The capital raised has exceeded the venture’s initial €500 mln target, AXA IMRA said, and provides an investment capacity of up to c. €1.3 bn, including leverage.

Over 60% of the equity raised was from follow-on investors from AXA IMRA's first value-add venture, PEVAV, which closed in May 2016 having raised €445 mln and is now realising its portfolio. €240 mln of equity was raised from five new institutional clients from Europe, Israel and South Korea.

'Having been an early mover back into value-add investing in 2011 and following the success of our first venture, the amount raised for PEVAV II has exceeded our initial expectations,' said Ian Chappell, head of value add and development funds at AXA IMRA.

'I am particularly pleased by the high level of support shown by our follow-on investor base which is a strong endorsement of the success of our value-add platform,' Chappell added.

PEVAV II will seek to invest in and create value from underperforming assets with inherently core qualities through a range of asset refurbishment and repositioning activities. To that end, recent deals have included the 8Gallery shopping centre in Turin, Italy in July 2018 and TechnoCampus Berlin, purchased in December 2018.

The fund is seeking investments ideally in the €50 mln to €150 mln range across both traditional real estate asset classes, particularly where there is limited supply, as well as alternative asset classes.

'Our disciplined approach to selecting opportunities is critical to successful investing at this stage in the cycle and we will leverage our large network of local European offices to cherry-pick opportunities where we can reposition underperforming assets with core characteristics. We will continue to take on asset or tenant risks where we have a proven track record of exploiting these to create value for our clients,' Chappell concluded.