HDS and Canyon-Johnson execs launch debut fund

The Fides Real Estate Direct Lending and Distressed Opportunity Fund will launch next month in search of up to $300m. The fund is led by Hagop Sargisian and Jose Quesada.

Fides Capital Management will launch its first investment vehicle, Fides Real Estate Direct Lending and Distressed Opportunity Fund, next month targeting between $150 million and $300 million.

The firm plans to hold a first close on $75 million.

The vehicle is being led by Fides’ investment principals Hagop Sargisian and Jose Quesada. Sargisian founded the real estate development company HDS Group, while Quesada was most recently vice president of the private equity real estate group, Canyon-Johnson Urban Fund. Additional Fides executives hail from Citadel, Trafalet Delta Funds and Permal Group.

The US-focused fund will invest across the industrial, office, multi-family, hospitality, medical and retail sectors targeting returns in excess of 16 percent. The fund may also execute some raw land deals, Fides principal Tim Bello told PERE.

“It will be a two-pronged investment approach. We’ll execute debt plays, where we’ll lend money to quality developers in distressed situations, and pure equity plays,” Fides principal Tim Bello added. “There’s so many ways to make cash in the real estate market given how distressed it is right now.”

Fides said it would focus on opportunities many institutional funds might ignore, such as those not meeting minimum size criteria, Class B and C properties and stalled projects.