Orion leads European capital raises at year-end

Diversified real estate funds have become a prominent feature of the capital raising landscape accounting for over 80% of reported activity in December, according to research from UK-based fund organisation Indirex.

Logistics and debt were the only other represented sectors. There was an encouraging hint of 'sustainability' overall, with capital commitments of almost €5 bn announced in December, Indirex said.

Six announcements were made in Europe, five of which involved successful raises (excluding the NIBM & Prologis JV). The largest was the €650 mln first closing of Orion European Real Estate Fund IV and the €350 mln commitment received by the Rockspring Trans European Property V.

Tristan Capital Partners EPISO 3 held a first close of €170 mln, with second closes held by AREIM for €75 mln and Sarasin Sustainable Properties - European Cities Fund generating €40 mln.

Globally, 18 announcements were reported in December with 15 of these involving new equity commitments.

The largest raise reported in December was the Fortress Japan Opportunity Fund II which held a final close of $1.65 bn (€1.2 bn), collecting an extra $1.1 bn since January 2012.

The logistics sector saw Norges Bank Investment Management (NIBM) investing €1.2 bn into a new JV with Prologis. The JV is seeded with buildings predominantly from the former PEPR fund and other Prologis assets.

Interestingly, 13 of the funds which announced capital raises in December have opportunity and value-add strategies.

London-based Indirex provides a data base for unlisted real estate funds.