Internos Global Investors has entered the market for pan-European open-ended funds, raising €135m from six investors.
The company, which was established in 2008, has held a first close for the Internos Core European Balaned fund, securing investment from clients of The Townsend Group.
Investors in the fund include insurance companies and public and private-sector pension funds from Europe and Asia.
Internos, which was founded by Jos Short and Andrew Thornton, is looking to build the fund up the fund’s gross asset value to €2bn over five years.
The company joins a growing list of investment managers that have been launching or growing existing pan-European, open-ended core funds.
Internos has already made its first acquisition, buying a portfolio of nine properties for €200m. The assets comprise seven offices, one logistics asset and one mixed-use asset in France, Italy, Germany, Spain and the Netherlands.
The fund is targeting a total return of 8% and will use “modest” leverage.
It will predominantly in office, retail, logistics and industrial assets, although it can allocate up to 20% to more specialist property types.
Andrew Thornton, CEO of Internos, said the launch marked “a transformational moment” for the company.
“Since our launch in 2008, we have built a high quality platform with strength and depth across Europe’s major geographical real estate markets in both traditional and specialist asset classes,” he said. “We now have six funds actively investing across Europe.”
Giles Smith, head of fund management at Internos, said: “With our first acquisition complete, the team is now working on a pipeline of single asset and portfolio acquisitions, sourced according to the fundamentals of the assets, micro-locations and local occupier markets.”
Morgan Angus, principal at The Townsend Group, said the multi-manager would help Internos “achieve its long-term growth aspirations for the fund”.
He said: “We are pleased to provide our clients with this proprietary opportunity to access a strong portfolio of core real estate in Europe with fundamental value and without the extended drawdown periods that usually accompany such investments.”
