Deals

EQT raises first equity for RE fund – Exclusive

After bolstering its real estate team over the last year, the property arm of Swedish private equity firm EQT has collected €200 million in capital commitments for its debut property fund through which the firm will make opportunistic investments.   

-

EQT Real Estate, the London-based real estate arm of Nordic private equity giant EQT, has raised €200 million for its debut commercial property fund.

The closed-ended, opportunistic vehicle, EQT Real Estate, was launched in 2015 and has a capital raising target of €500 million. The fund’s life will span eight to 10 years and it is understood the target IRR will be in the region of 16 percent to 20 percent.

Capital commitments were secured from a combination of European institutional investors as well as seeding from EQT Real Estate itself.

EQT Real Estate has already made three transactions on behalf of the fund, acquiring two assets in Paris and a one in Cologne (pictured).

The capital raising and the deals represent some of the first market activity for the giant private equity firm which launched its real estate business last year. 

This year, the firm has been growing out its team, adding six executives to bring its real estate team up to 13. In October, EQT bolstered its team with two appointments, director Jonathan Hardie and associate Sam Childerstone both joined from private equity real estate firm Wainbridge. 

While in May, the firm made four more appointments. Nisha Raghavan joined as chief financial officer, Sofia Watt as director of asset management for the Nordics, Olivier Astruc as director of acquisitions for France and Thomas Tynan as associate. The quartet joined from Clearbell Capital, Pramerica Real Estate Investments, AXA Investment Management – Real Assets and LNR Partners respectively.

The real estate division of the firm was formed in February last year by Edouard Fernandez and Rob Rackind, formerly of Wainbridge, and Fredrick Elwing, formerly of Greenhill and Credit Suisse.

EQT Real Estate’s parent company EQT, based in Stockholm, was founded in 1994 and has raised approximately €22 billion across 17 funds from more than 300 global institutional investors. The firm has historical ties to prominent Swedish financial dynasty, the Wallenberg Family, which to this day still invest in EQT funds.

The firm declined to comment.