AXA Real Estate raises EUR 1.4b for debt platform

AXA Real Estate Investment Managers has announced a new round of fundraising to bring its total Commercial Real Estate debt programme to EUR 7 bn by the end of 2012.

In a statement on Monday, AXA Real Estate said it aims to secure around EUR 2 bn of additional investment capacity by the end of 2012, having already received around EUR 1.4 bn in commitments from investors.

In addition to targeting existing and new investors in its core markets of the UK and France, AXA Real Estate will concentrate its marketing efforts in Germany, the Netherlands, the Nordics and Switzerland, where it has identified a strong investor appetite for this product.

The new tranche of fundraising follows EUR 1.3 bn of investments made by AXA Real Estate in the first half of 2012. As a result, the company is increasing its investment target to EUR 2.4 bn for the full year, compared to the EUR 2 bn target it set in January.

Around 40% of the loans made in the first half were primary loans while 60% were secondary transactions, with the most notable being the EUR 800 mln portfolio AXA Real Estate acquired from Société Générale in June.

AXA Real Estate's commercial real estate debt platform, established in 2005, is now one of the largest of any the real estate investment managers currently active in the CRE loans market in Europe.

AXA Real Estate’s regulated entity, AXA REIM SGP, advises the company on debt investment activity.