ICG-Longbow hits £1bn hard-cap

The firm has surpassed its £750m target for its real estate debt lending strategy after raising almost £150m following the UK’s vote for Brexit. 

Real estate debt lender ICG-Longbow has surged past its £750 million ($933 million; €864 million) fundraising target for its fourth vehicle and hit the £1 billion hard-cap, PERE's sister paper Private Debt Investor has learned,

So far, the firm has committed 60 percent of the fund, which amounts to £597 million.

Fundraising began in December 2014 and the firm reached a first close two months later after collecting £364 million from investors based in the UK, Europe and Asia. Following the UK’s European Union referendum vote, the firm raised £146 million.

The firm’s strategy is to invest in self-originated whole loans secured against UK commercial property, but has the flexibility to invest in mezzanine debt, preferred equity and joint venture equity. Average transaction sizes are £27 million.

In 2016 alone, fund IV has completed seven transactions and realised seven deals totalling returns of £130 million. The largest investment this year was a £33 million mezzanine loan secured against 120 Holborn, a central London-based office building acquired by UOL, a Singaporean investor, for £222 million following refurbishment of the property earlier this year.

Martin Wheeler, co-head of ICG-Longbow, said: “The successful fundraising and the realisations we have achieved on our fund investments is both a signal of continuing confidence in the UK commercial property market and a validation of our approach to investing and value creation.

“While we are maintaining a cautious approach to investing, we are encouraged by the strong occupational demand that is evident in our investment portfolios and our investment pipeline is showing an increase in attractive investment opportunities across our three strategies,” he added.

As of 30 September, ICG Capital had more than £3.1 billion of assets under management.