Asset manager La Française has announced the launch of its first SCPI investment vehicle for retail clients targeting commercial real estate across Europe.
Asset manager La Française has announced the launch of its first SCPI investment vehicle for retail clients targeting commercial real estate across Europe.
The fund, dubbed LFP Europimmo, will target a diversified portfolio of existing retail and office assets across Europe, with an initial focus on the German market and a second phase focusing on France and the Benelux. It is targeting a volume of €100 mln.
'We want to continue to cultivate our ability to offer our customers innovative and distinctive products,' said Xavier Lépine, CEO of La Française AM. 'The international markets offer extraordinary growth opportunities.'
'To sustain the distribution rate of the SCPIs, it is important to invest in new powerful economic territories. It is more necessary than ever to create new investment strategies and to build a portfolio beyond our borders,' added Marc Bertrand, CEO of La Française Global Real Estate Investment Managers.
The move reflects La Française's international ambitions and its strategy to build a European asset management platform. The group recently hired DTZ AM's former boss Patrice Genre to set up La Française Real Estate Partners (La Française REP), a new platform dedicated to managing French value-add and core/core plus mandates. The platform is eyeing some €2 bn of investment in the next three years.
Also this year, La Française formed a strategic partnership with UK-based Forum Partners, and shortly thereafter signed an over-the-counter agreement to acquire Cushman & Wakefield Investors (CWI), the investment management business of Cushman & Wakefield.
Over the summer, La Française also formed a joint venture with privately-held group Acofi to focus on the management of debt funds. La Française has taken an initial 20% stake in the partnership, with plans to increase the interest to 50% over the next six years.
