MGPA raises EUR 3.4 bn for Europe and Asia fund

Private equity fund manager MGPA said on Monday that it had secured commitments totalling $5.2 bn (EUR 3.4bn) at the close of its MGPA Fund III. MGPA Fund III consists of two regionally based private equity real estate funds, MGPA Europe Fund III and MGPA Asia Fund III, with mandates to invest in Europe and Asia respectively. The funds were raised from over 65 investors, ranging from corporate and public pension funds to insurance companies, foundations and endowments looking for exposure in the European and Asian real estate markets.

'We are extremely pleased with the strong demand and continued commitment from our investors, reflecting their confidence in MGPA’s expertise and our track record in delivering strong returns from our property funds,' MGPA chairman and CEO Jim Quille said. 'We are currently witnessing less competition for deals, especially where high levels of leverage and financial engineering were driving certain buyers. Unless you can create real value through physically improving, developing or active asset management of real estate today, opportunities are less obvious and this plays to MGPA’s strengths,' he added.

MGPA said it would invest in markets which were showing signs of 'inefficiencies' and 'dislocations' and where it could apply its asset management skills. The company, which was formed in 2004 as a result of a joint venture with the Macquarie Group, recently changed its name to MGPA from Macquarie Global Property Advisors. Since 2004, MGPA has been an independently managed business and the management and day-to-day control of MGPA are in the hands of the existing management.