Frogmore closes Fund III above target on £377m

Frogmore, the London-based real estate investment manager, has held a £377 million (€530 million; $592 million) final close on its third fund – Frogmore Real Estate Partners III.

The firm, which held an initial close between £90 million and £100 million for the fund back in September 2013, beat its original target of £350 million, in part due to expanding its investor base.

Frogmore was able to attract capital from North America, Europe, the UK and for the first time, Asia, with two Singaporean investors.

“We were conscious that capital was coming from that part of the world and we were delighted to diversify our investor base,” Jo Allen, chief operating officer at Frogmore told PERE.

The firm engaged placement agent Odyssey Partners to aide its fundraising in Asia, and also hired Triton Pacific Capital as its exclusive placement agent in North America, where the bulk of capital for Fund III was raised, and FirstPoint Equity to assist with European fundraising efforts. 

The investment strategy of Fund III will be in line with Frogmore’s previous two funds focusing on value-add properties across a range of sectors, targeting IRRs in the mid-to-high teens and an equity multiple of 1.8x.

The firm has already made a string of investments using Fund III capital, the most recent being a £215 million investment in a London residential complex called Notting Hill Gate Estate, from The Pears Group in a joint venture with LaSalle Investment Management.

Frogmore purchased the freehold estate, which totals approximately 171,000 square feet of retail, office and residential accommodation; arranged across four blocks. The estate, which is situated in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, sits prominently on both the north and the south side of Notting Hill Gate.

The firm has also used Fund III capital to acquire: West One Retail Park, Eccles, Manchester; 2 Millharbour, London Docklands, and an office led refurbishment project in Holborn, London.