Canada’s Dream has announced the launch of the Dream Impact Fund for private investors, an evergreen vehicle initially targeting CAD$250 mln (€170 mln) in equity over two closings.
In the first closing carried out in less than six months of fundraising, all conducted virtually, Dream’s private capital business secured $136 mln of commitments from a broad investor base, comprising Oxford Properties Group, Scotiabank, TD, 1832 Asset Management on behalf of Dynamic Funds and Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, together with three family offices.
Scotia Capital served as an advisor to the fund.
‘Dream has a great track record of developing and operating real estate to make communities better while achieving desirable financial returns,’ said Michael Cooper, founder of the Dream Group of Companies. ‘Impact investing is a strategic priority at Dream, an investment class where we have our highest conviction and now many investors are making substantial investments with the same purpose. We are committed to being a global leader in this space and Dream is well positioned to provide investors with access to double-bottom line investment opportunities and irreplaceable projects.’
‘Whether it’s building the first zero carbon high-rise towers in Canada, or investing alongside our industry partners to effect positive change, Oxford is committed to ensuring our investments create social, environmental and economic impact for the benefit of our communities,’ said Michael Turner, President of Oxford Properties. ‘Our commitment to the Dream Impact Fund will deliver these positive outcomes while generating long-term, stable returns for our pension stakeholders.’
Dream has contributed four development assets with strong impact qualities to form the Fund’s seed portfolio. Going forward, the fund will continue to target investments in real estate properties and projects with the ability to generate positive, measurable social and environmental impact alongside market-rate financial returns.
Canadian real estate group Dream launched Dream Equity Partners, its asset management business for private real estate clients, last year with the hire of Rahul Idnani as president of the new platform.
Idnani was formerly global chief operating officer of Nuveen Real Estate which has $127 bn of assets under management. At Nuveen, he oversaw $90 bn of assets under management across various property types and investment strategies for the firm's institutional and retail clients.
Dream Equity Partners is now approaching $500 mln in AUM including the Impact Fund as well as a value-add multifamily separate account with an unnamed European investor.
