Deutsche Finance closes fund at €436m

The fund comprises an even spread of institutional investors from the US, Germany and the rest of Europe.

It will target value-add investments in small to mid-cap properties and special situations, mainly in Western European gateway cities.

Previous investments include a programme to aggregate previously under-managed residential multi-family assets in Barcelona and Madrid, Spain; the creation of a student accommodation platform in Copenhagen, Denmark; a student accommodation asset in Canterbury in the UK; and an office refurbishment opportunity in central Lisbon.

Its highest profile deal has been for London Olympia in 2017. DFI's fund was part of a consortium that bought the famous exhibition hall from Capco. The investor group included Bayerische Versorgungskammer (Germany’s largest manager of public pension schemes investing through a fund managed by Universal-Investment) as the single largest shareholder, and the Versicherungskammer Bayern Group (Germany’s largest public insurer). The consortium was advised by DFI and Yoo Capital, as UK co-investor.

Frank RoccoGrande, DFI co-founder and co-managing partner, said:´The level of support we have received for our first fund is a thorough endorsement of our differentiated strategy, the quality of our team and our ability to source high quality investments off market.

'We have strong ambitions for the platform we are building and, having only launched in 2017, set a clear and deliberate strategy for our maiden fund to be more measured in size and with a higher proportion of co-investment.

'This approach has allowed us to put our clients’ capital to work quicker, without compromising our investment strategy or ability to execute larger transactions. It is hugely satisfying to have exceeded our initial target for the Fund and I would like to thank all of our investors for their support and commitment to this important stage in DFI’s evolution.´