Kildare Partners, the London-based private equity real estate firm, has launched its second European opportunity fund.
The London-based firm, led by sector veteran Ellis Short, is seeking $2 billion of equity for its Kildare European Partners (KEP) II fund, according to one of the firm’s prospective investors, which asked not to be named.
A first closing is expected to happen in May.
The fund is the successor to Kildare’s first fund, Kildare European Partners, which was originally meant to attract $1.5 billion but was ultimately oversubscribed when it closed in 2014 on approximately $2 billion.
Each of the investors in the first fund is thought to be returning to repeat an investment in the second.
The first fund was invested in real estate and real estate-related non- and sub-performing debt in European markets, including the Germany, the UK and the Netherlands.
One example of a major transaction for the first fund was its acquisition of the Mars Portfolio, a €1 billion loan book containing debt behind 26 office and hotel assets, from investment bank, Deutsche Bank.
The fund was understood to have been substantially invested last year and a proportion of investors’ equity already has been returned, the investor said.
The second fund is expected to offer Kildare’s investors a continuation of its strategy, albeit with less emphasis on the UK and more emphasis on continental Europe.
Projected current returns are thought to be exceeding the fund’s opportunistic return target. Typically, opportunistic returns for real estate funds are approximately 20 percent gross IRR and a 2x equity multiple.
Kildare declined to comment.
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