La Francaise, the Paris-based real estate asset manager, has increased its ownership in a strategic partnership with London-based private equity real estate firm Forum Partners to 85 percent.
The French asset manager is understood to have increased its ownership in La Francaise Forum Real Estate Partners (LFF REP), the international property platform, from 66 percent to 85 percent. A spokesman for La Francaise said the purchase was made in order to “expand the business’ exposure to European real estate”.
The move means Forum has now dramatically reduced its share in the partnership to below 15 percent, which is now split between members of the platform’s management team.
La Francaise also announced it was re-branding the platform as La Francaise Real Estate Partners International (La Francaise REP International).
David Rendall, LFF REP’s chief executive officer, and Jens Gottler, LFF REP’s managing director, will continue to manage the business and investments. The firms also announced that the existing London-based team will be relocated to La Francaise’s office, located in Mayfair in London.
Patrick Rivière, managing director of La Française, said: “La Française is creating synergies across all business lines. With this European real estate investment platform as an integral part of our business unit, we will be able to offer an ever broader range of investment services and further expand our international footprint.”
La Francaise’s property division was established back in June 2014, after it formed a strategic partnership with private equity real estate firm Forum Partners in September 2013, and acquired Cushman & Wakefield’s Investors, the European property investment management of the global property services firm, in March 2014.
In September 2014, LFF REP launched a core-plus UK mall fund with a target investment total of £500 million ($653 million; €584 million). Capital from the vehicle targeted malls worth between £35 million and £100 million. The vehicle has a three-year investment period.
While in January this year, La Francaise hired Agnes Riban, the former head of acquisitions for France and Benelux at Carlyle Group, to lead its foray into higher risk and return real estate strategies.
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