Global investment manager Barings has closed the Barings Real Estate European Value-Add Fund II (BREEVA II), its second pan-European value-add real estate fund, at its hard-cap of €850 mln.
The fund received €1 bn of client demand, significantly surpassing the target of €750 mln. BREEVA II follows BREEVA I, which has already realised a number of assets and returned more than 60% of its equity to investors.
Paul Murphy, head of client portfolio management, European Real Estate, at Barings, said: 'To have closed BREEVA II with such a high quality and well diversified capital base is a strong endorsement in the strength of our strategy, investment track record and relationships with our clients.
'There was over €1 bn of client demand for this fund and we look forward to efficiently deploying the capital raised in the months ahead.'
Of the capital raised for BREEVA II, 50% came from existing investors, with the remainder from new clients, and was diversified across North America Europe and Asia Pacific. The majority of the capital came from pension funds and insurance companies.
BREEVA II will continue the same investment strategy as BREEVA I, targeting value-add opportunities across Europe, with a focus on repositioning and build-to-core opportunities in the logistics, alternatives - living and office sectors.
Barings has already committed approximately 30% of the fund’s capital through eight transactions in the UK, Sweden, Germany and Italy and expects a number more to close in the coming weeks.
Valeria Falcone, head of value-add investing Europe at Barings, said: 'Through our strong network of local offices we have been able to not only continue our comprehensive value-add strategy throughout the pandemic, but also identify and execute opportunities that have arisen as a result of it.
'This ongoing success, proven by the very strong returns delivered from BREEVA I, which has already returned 65% of the capital, has led to increased demand from investors and we have already identified a promising pipeline of further acquisitions following our initial commitments.'
