Macquarie Asset Management, the Australian company, has attracted substantial equity commitments from investors for its Goodstone Living Partners I fund – the debut offering for the build-to-rent (BTR) platform.
Fund I is investing in acquiring, developing, and operating BTR assets in London and other UK cities seeing the opportunity in a vast supply gap.
It qualifies as an Article 8 fund under the EU’s SFDR rules as the company said it was focussed on decarbonisation and social value initiatives, specifically targeting a 30%-plus reduction in embodied carbon emissions and a 50%-plus reduction in operational carbon emissions.
It is currently pursuing the development of 1,000 homes in Scotland’s Edinburgh and in Birmingham, England.
In addition to various institutional investors, limited partners in the fund have been revealed as UK pension funds fronted by Northern LGPS under whose umbrella is Greater Manchester, West Yorkshire, and Merseyside. Together they have committed £500 mln (€630 mln) to the cause.
Kevin Etchells, a senior investment manager at Greater Manchester Pension Fund (GMPF), said on behalf of Northern LGPS: ‘The UK has an acute under supply of housing and GMPF is proud to contribute to help solve this whilst also hopefully obtaining attractive risk-adjusted income returns.’
Iliya Blazic, CEO of Goodstone Living, said: ‘The successful launch of our first managed fund and ability to attract high-quality institutional capital partners speaks to the confidence global investors have in the underlying fundamentals of the build-to-rent sector, as well as Goodstone Living’s vision of creating a better way to rent.’
Blazic was appointed late last year having worked at various companies such as IQ Student, Wellcome Trust, LaSalle, and Dominvs Group.
Its move into UK BTR was made in June 2021.
