US private equity firms KKR and TPG are believed to have expressed interest in buying a stake in Morgan Stanley's Real Estate Fund (MSREF). Colony Capital has also reportedly approached the company, according to a report in the Financial Times.
US private equity firms KKR and TPG are believed to have expressed interest in buying a stake in Morgan Stanley's Real Estate Fund (MSREF). Colony Capital has also reportedly approached the company, according to a report in the Financial Times.
The private equity firms are seeking to increase assets under management and diversify away from traditional buy-out activity, the paper said. Morgan Stanley was cited as saying it had taken no decisions about the fate of the group.
In April this year Morgan Stanley warned investors that its $8.8 bn MSREF VI fund could lose as much as $5.4 bn after being forced to take writedowns or hand back the keys on a range of investments around the globe, including Europe. Since then it has reportedly raised EUR 4.7 bn (EUR 3.8 bn) from investors for its new opportunity fund MSREF VII Global. The fund will focus on the US, Japan and Western Europe.
US-based Colony Capital is also active in Europe. At end-2009 it acquired Goldman Sachs' portion of the approximately EUR 4.2 bn syndicated loan in Spanish company Inmobiliaria Colonial together with London-based Orion Capital Managers. It also acquired a portfolio of non-performing loans from BAG Bankaktiengesellschaft in Hamm, Germany.