The real estate investment management arm of Samsung Life Insurance has launched a second global core office fund, raising KRW500bn (€391m) from South Korean institutional investors.
Global Core Office Real Estate Investment Trust No 2 will pursue a similar strategy to its predeccessor, targeting key cities around the world.
Samsung SRA AM began working on the follow-up fund after it fully invested its first global office fund, of a similar size, early this year. That fund was launched two years ago.
Young Chai, CIO of Samsung SRA Asset Management, told IPE Real Estate that the investors – including insurers – are expected to sign off on the new fund by the middle of next month.
With gearing of around 60%, he said, the new office fund will have “dry powder of over US$1bn” (€889m).
The fund will focus on core and core-plus properties in London, Paris, Amsterdam and several cities in Germany.
It will also look to tier-one and tier-two cities in the US, as well as Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane in Australia.
“We have started to bid for assets, but, at this stage, we do not have specific transactions to talk about,” Chai said.
The closed-ended fund will have a two-year investment period. The assets will be held up to seven years thereafter.
Chai said the previous fund acquired three office buildings in the US and Europe. Among its assets are the Commerzbank head office in Frankfurt and the So Quest office building in central Paris, acquired from Unibail-Rodamco.
Chai said the firm also launched a US$220m domestic core and core-plus fund last year, which recently acquired its first asset.
Samsung SRA AM is one of the first companies in South Korea to offer South Korean institutional investors, including pension funds, blind-pool real estate funds.
Its inaugural mezzanine debt fund was launched last year to invest in the US commercial real estate debt market.
