Walton Street Capital has closed on commitments of $900m (€847m) for its latest real estate fund, according to one of its investors.
A board meeting document of the Santa Barbara County Employees’ Retirement System shows that Walton Street Real Estate Fund VIII is processing a further $300m of commitments and hopes to eventually raise $1.5bn.
Walton Street, which did not comment, has already made on 11 investments for the fund and has three more pending.
The deals so far represent approximately $500m of the equity committed, although the fund has used its subscription line to fund the purchases and has yet to call any capital
According to industry sources, such a level of investment activity is rare for a fund still in the process of raising capital.
The investments include the $86m purchase of six office buildings and three land parcels in Chicago known as The Loft Portfolio.
The purchase price represented a 20% discount to recent comparable sales.
The fund also paid $44m for a 236,033sqft office building at 2150 Webster in Oakland, California. Walton Street will be investing an additional $26.7 million for capital improvements.
Walton Street is targeting an internal rate of return of 17% (net) and 23% (gross) for the fund.
