Blueprint: Ex-Blackstone real estate boss Chad Pike returns; Aermont sees cultural fit with acquirer Keppel; rising insurance costs

Chad’s back

There is nothing like a crisis to bring folks back to the market. About three and a half years after retiring from industry Blackstone, Chad Pike, once one of the heavyweight manager’s heaviest-hitting real estate investment professionals, is back with his own firm. As PERE revealed today, Makarora has been formed with the intention of capitalizing on current capital dislocation in the sector, initially in the US debt markets.

The first 10 recruits include ex-Prospect Ridge and AllianceBernstein senior executive Adam Brooks as head of debt, and an initial vehicle is expected to be introduced in the new year that could attract multiple billions of dollars from investors. According to a launch document obtained by PERE, those investors can expect a flexible investment approach – in line with Pike’s last Blackstone role as co-founder of its tactical opportunities business – but most likely kicking off with credit investments given the debt-starved condition of the market today. For more on Pike’s comeback, click here.

Aermont’s culture club

Speak to anyone inside Keppel Corporation’s acquisitions of European private equity real estate firm Aermont Capital and you will hear plenty about the two organizations’ cultural fit. The deal, announced last week, essentially sees the Singapore-based conglomerate buying the London-based manager in two 50 percent stake purchases with the first priced at S$517 million ($388 million; €353 million). Read PERE’s commentary published on Friday for insight on the transaction.

Aermont executives are expecting to leverage the operational expertise of Keppel’s existing and hitherto Asia-centric business, in line with the firms own preference for making investments with a significant onus on operational real estate. Indeed, when looking out for the firm’s first vehicles introduced post-acquisition – besides its signature opportunity fund series – do not be surprised to see something dedicated to data centers, an asset type for which Keppel is well known for delivering. Aermont founder Léon Bressler said in an announcement of the deal: “Keppel offers something specific and compelling to our franchise; its technical and operating expertise are well-aligned to key megatrends.”

Secondaries success for a pair of mega-managers

Both Blackstone and Ares Management have defied the wider slowdown in capital raising for private real estate, with both closing some of the largest real estate secondaries funds ever raised in the space of a week. Only a few days after Blackstone’s secondaries division, Blackstone Strategic Partners, closed the largest dedicated real estate secondaries fund since 2020 and the fourth-largest ever raised, Ares announced it had equalled its own record fundraise. The Los Angeles-based manager has amassed $3.3 billion for Landmark Real Estate Fund IX including co-investment. This puts the fund on a par with its predecessor, Landmark Real Estate Partners VIII, which closed on the same amount in 2018 and represents the largest real estate secondaries vehicle in history, according to data from affiliate title Secondaries Investor.

Blackstone attracted $2.6 billion in commitments for Strategic Partners Real Estate VIII, exceeding its predecessor vehicle by around 37 percent. According to Secondaries Investor data, Blackstone’s latest effort makes it the fifth-largest real estate secondaries fundraise of all time.

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