Two former Brockton Capital executives, Sanjay Sethi and Max Bassadone, have launched Tokoro Capital, an investment management firm, and announced the close of its first fund, TKO-I, having raised €100 mln of capital commitments.
According to Tokoro, the fund was cornerstoned by a major European institution and, assuming leverage, has around €250 mln of investable capital that will initially target office opportunities in London and Paris.
Max Bassadone, co-managing partner at Tokoro Capital, said: 'Our perspective is new and fresh, we work with LPs to develop bespoke investment strategies that meet their needs from an asset allocation perspective as well as risk and reward.
'We grew up in value add and opportunistic investment environments and thus are active managers at our core and able to generate yield pick up even in lower risk investments.'
Co-managing partner Sanjay Sethi added: 'We did not raise a fund anticipating distress but we wanted to create a vehicle that could benefit from both periods of stability and volatility in the investment cycle. This is the first of what we hope will be a series of funds across a number of asset classes.'
Tokoro Capital will target opportunities in Europe’s gateway cities, employing a relative value strategy to allow it to invest through the cycle whilst seeking to take advantage of pricing dislocation, which the firm said is expected to be exaggerated by current market uncertainty.
Target assets will be in the €20 mln to €100 mln value range with an initial focus on Paris and London, Europe’s two most liquid and transparent real estate markets, underlining Tokoro Capital’s belief in the important role offices will continue to play for businesses in the future.
The firm said that its ethos was underpinned by 'a strong social purpose' and included a commitment to channel a proportion of profits towards affecting social change.
Sethi and Bassadone have over 30 years combined real estate experience, having transacted and asset managed over €10 bn of real estate across the capital stack, whilst they are also active angel investors in the impact space. Prior to launching Tokoro, they spent four years together at Brockton Capital.
'We remain steadfast in our conviction that well located, highly amenitised offices offering a carefully curated mix of indoor and outdoor space will continue to be highly sought after, especially as the clear social value of work force interaction becomes apparent and the cycle of living at work is broken. Closing our first fund against the backdrop of the Covid-19 pandemic is a clear endorsement of this strategy and vision,' Bassadone concluded.
