BentallGreenOak said on Thursday that its second European secured lending fund exceeded its €800 mln equity target raising €869 mln of equity commitments at its final close.
The fund, GreenOak Europe Secured Lending Fund II, raised the commitments from institutional investors around the globe, including Europe, Japan and Korea.
‘That the fund has exceeded its target of €800 mln demonstrates both the strong demand for this strategy and the confidence in the strength and capabilities of our European debt team,’ said Jim Blakemore, managing partner and head of global debt at BentallGreenOak. ‘Moreover, it underscores the value of our integrated real estate platform which benefits from equity and lending experience and enables us to source, underwrite, close and service loans, as well as asset manage direct real estate.’
This is the latest Fund in BentallGreenOak’s European lending strategy, which was launched in 2013. Over this period the team has raised over $3.7 bn, deploying more than $3.1 bn of capital across over 100 loans.
GreenOak Europe Secured Lending II will target strong returns while maintaining an overarching focus on capital preservation. In the current environment, BentallGreenOak’s European Debt team sees the best risk/return opportunities in providing debt to non-core and value-add assets which are often overlooked by traditional core lenders. The Fund will focus on opportunities in Germany, the Netherlands, the Nordics, and Ireland.
Manja Stueck, Chief Operating Officer of debt and head of Capital Markets Europe at BentallGreenOak, said: ‘The closure of our second European debt fund and deployment of already close to half of the capital is testament to the market’s need for specialist, flexible lending solutions. I believe that the BentallGreenOak European Debt team has established a reputation for being professional, dependable and creative, which is the reason why we continue to see sustained interest from new and existing investors.’
To date, the Fund has made eight investments with a total value of €382 mln, in the form of loans in the Netherlands and Ireland secured against office, logistics, residential and mixed-use properties.
