HSBC RE fund management arm completes buyout

HSBC Specialist Investments' management team has completed the acquisition of a majority interest in the business from HSBC Holdings and will rename the company InfraRed Capital Partners.

The transaction follows the announcement by HSBC in 2010 that it was spinning out its private equity fund management activities. The UK bank retains a 19.9% stake in the business and remains an important business partner.

InfraRed manages in excess of $4 bn of equity capital in funds that invest into real estate and infrastructure assets which InfraRed develops and operates across the globe. Its 80 staff are deployed across offices in London, Hong Kong, New York, and Paris.

To date, InfraRed has raised 11 funds, six of which have been materially or fully realised, and listed an investment company on the London Stock Exchange.

'Since we began the spin-out process last year the business has remained extremely active, completing a number of significant transactions across all the funds that we manage,' said Werner von Guionneau, Chief Executive of InfraRed. 'We are pleased with the extensive support from investors and business partners who share our excitement that the spin-out will enhance our ability to capture attractive opportunities available to us as an independent business.'

HSBC Specialist Investments was the dedicated real estate and infrastructure investment arm of HSBC. It was acquired in 2000 and remained a legally separate and organisationally stand-alone identity operating separately within the HSBC Group. Main funds that continue to be managed by InfraRed include the HSBC European Active Real Estate Fund: a EUR 400 mln fund investing in commercial real estate in the UK and select European markets.