LaSalle forms $205m opportunistic separate account

The vehicle, created for an unnamed corporate pension, will look to provide liquidity to US real estate ownership structures in a variety of ways.


LaSalle Investment Management has formed a $205 million separate account to provide liquidity to real estate ownership structures on behalf of a corporate pension plan. 

Sources said the Chicago-based real estate investment management firm put approximately $5 million into the opportunistic vehicle, which is named Salt River Investors after the river in Arizona. The identity of the client that put in the majority of capital has not been disclosed. 

Through Salt River Investors, LaSalle will focus on asset and fund-level recapitalisations throughout the US, as well as secondary purchases of joint venture or fund interests. The capital is flexible in structure and can take the form of structured debt, preferred equity or common equity. 

“There’s a wide-open playing field in terms of assets and geography,” Dan Witte, managing director at LaSalle, told PERE. “The vehicle is meant to provide liquidity to existing owners of single-asset properties, joint ventures or funds.” 

Witte added: “It’s also meant to provide fresh capital to an owner who could be overleveraged, or it could invest in secondary interests in an ownership vehicle. We’re open to all kinds of complexity.”

The vehicle actively is seeking investment opportunities requiring between $20 million and $50 million in equity, though it could invest more, depending on the opportunity. Through the account, LaSalle is targeting opportunistic-type returns and is “willing to take the commensurable level of risk required to get there.” 

So far, LaSalle has not made any investments on behalf of Salt River. “We’re sorting through a number of opportunities,” Witte added. “We’re pretty patient.”