Hines Securities said on Thursday that it has surpassed $5 bn (€3.6 bn) in total capital raised since its inception.

Hines Securities said on Thursday that it has surpassed $5 bn (€3.6 bn) in total capital raised since its inception.

The total represents capital raised across several investment products - Hines Real Estate Investment Trust, which is closed to new investment; Hines Global REIT, which closed to new investors on April 11, 2014; HMS Income Fund; and several real estate private placements.

'We're excited as a company to reach this milestone, for which we owe thanks to our broker-dealer partners and their thousands of independent financial advisors who have recommended our products to their clients,' said Mark Earley, president of Hines Securities, a Houston-based affiliate of Hines, the privately owned global real estate investment firm. Hines Securities raised a firm record of more than $909 mln across all products it offered in 2013.

Hines Securities began operating as a dealer manager in 2003 to distribute Hines REIT, a non-traded real estate investment trust, which raised $2.7 bn for a portfolio of primarily Class A US office assets. It followed the completion of that offering with Hines Global REIT, which raised $2.7 bn for a diverse portfolio of high-quality assets in the US and six foreign countries, and several smaller private placement offerings. In 2012 the firm introduced its first non-real estate investment product, HMS Income Fund, a non-traded business development company, and it anticipates launching one or more additional real estate investment products in the coming months.

Frank Apollo, chief operating officer for Hines Securities, noted that the competitive landscape has changed dramatically over the last 10 years with different sponsors topping the list in capital raise for a year or two, and then fading.

'Our goal is to consistently remain where we've been -- in the top handful of firms recognized by our broker-dealer partners for product quality, service, and capital raise. In fact, we've been collaborating with many of them over the past year about new product structures that address both their investors' needs for income and growth and changes that are anticipated in the regulatory environment,' added Apollo. 'While these products have historically been referred to as alternatives, we see them as specialized investments that are more mainstream now, not just alternatives for investors seeking diversification and yield.