Brookfield to seek as much as $3bn for debut RE secondaries offering

The alternatives giant's vehicle would be the second-largest pot of capital dedicated to the strategy so far.

Brookfield Asset Management, one of the world’s largest alternatives firms by AUM, has eyes on what could be the second-largest pot of capital ever raised for a dedicated real estate secondaries strategy.

The Toronto-headquartered manager plans to raise between $2 billion and $3 billion for its debut real estate secondaries fund, according to a source familiar with the matter.

The vehicle, Brookfield Real Estate Secondaries Fund, has already received at least $150 million from South Korea’s Public Officials Benefit Association, according to affiliate title Secondaries Investor data.

If it hits the $3 billion target, the vehicle would be behind Landmark Partners’ $3.3 billion Real Estate Partners VIII, which closed in 2018 and remains the largest pot of dedicated capital to the strategy.

A spokeswoman for the firm declined to comment on fundraising.

Brookfield launched its real estate secondaries business last year by hiring Fabian Neuenschwander from Partners Group, as Secondaries Investor reported. The firm has since added Kayley Laren from Goldman Sachs and Julian Falconer from StepStone. It closed its sophomore deal this year: a stapled restructuring involving a primary commitment to NorthBridge Partners’ third fund.

For real estate transactions, the firm targets deals between $50 million and several hundred million, with no upper boundary given that Brookfield can invest both third-party capital and from its own balance sheet, as Secondaries Investor reported in March.

Real estate secondaries deal volume hit a record high last year at $8.5 billion across 113 transactions closing or being placed under contract, according to data from Landmark Partners. Recapitalizations of funds and property portfolios drove the majority of transactions last year, accounting for two-thirds of deals.

The strategy has seen a handful of new entrants this year, including Pantheon which in June said it had hired two senior executives from GI Partners, Roman Braslavsky and David Elliott, to establish the New York-based platform.

Sera Global, which is backed by Brookfield itself, in April hired a professional from Goldman Sachs Asset Management for its push into real estate secondaries advisory, as Secondaries Investor reported.