Corestate Capital Group's Helvetic Financial Services mezzanine financing arm has announced the launch of a new senior debt fund aiming to raise equity of €500 mln by the end of the year.
The vehicle, known as Stratos VI, has been set up as a special AIF (German special fund) and is targeted at professional and semi-professional investors. It will finance high-return development and existing properties from the residential and commercial real estate segment in the DACH region (Germany, Austria and Switzerland). The recently approved fund has already received an investment grade rating from a prominent rating agency. The fund's target return is over 5%.
HFS expects the fund to raise around €500 mln before the end of the year and double the equity amount over 2022.
Martin Bassermann, chairman of HFS's board of directors: 'Traditional lenders like banks are not meeting the need for real estate financing, causing a gap in demand for senior secured loans that urgently needs filling. The main causes of this are the increasing regulation of bank financing as well as the duration of the lending process. This is precisely where the new Stratos VI comes in. With a credit fund that will provide the necessary investment capital within four weeks, we are the closest alternative to traditional real estate financing. We are expanding our range of financing products to include senior tranches alongside our mezzanine subordinated loan business, which has been successfully operating for many years. Based on the investment commitments we have already received and numerous discussions with interested institutional investors, we are very confident that HFS will become a market leader in the senior segment as well.'
