Pamfleet seeks $350m for second fund

Pamfleet Group, the Hong Kong and Singapore-focused private equity real estate firm, has begun fundraising for its second value-added fund, Pamfleet Real Estate Fund (PREF) II, PERE has learned.

The firm, which was formed in 2000 as a management buy-out of Hong Kong investment bank Jardine Fleming’s direct property fund management business, is understood to be in the final throes of drafting its private placement memorandum for the seven-year vehicle with the document expected to be available for investors imminently.

Pamfleet has also hired CrossCon Real Assets Capital as its placement agent to assist with the fundraising.

The successor fund comes as Pamfleet finishes committing the capital of its maiden PREF fund, for which it raised $209 million and held a final closing at the end of February 2012. The fund was invested in five assets in Hong Kong and one asset in Singapore.

A similar Hong Kong bias is expected from the firm for the second fund for which it is targeting a capital raising of $350 million with a hard cap of $400 million.

PERE understands that talks with repeat investors have proved successful and that an early $60 million closing could happen as soon as next month. A larger closing of $150 million is anticipated to happen sometime during Q1 next year.

Coinvestment capital is expected to be accepted in addition by Pamfleet for selected deals and on a pari passu basis.

From the investments made for the first fund, which were made with two years of the vehicle’s three-year investment period, are understood to be generating returns of 20 percent net IRR, higher than the mid-teens return the fund is targeting, in line with its value-added strategy. Pamfleet typically targets B-Grade commercial real estate with repositioning or redevelopment potential.

A successful second fundraising would cement Pamfleet’s transition as an investment manager that transacts on a deal by deal basis to a steward of pooled, third-party capital. Prior to investing the capital of its first fund, the firm had transacted more than $1 billion of real estate, comprising more than 3.8 million square feet, according to company literature.

Pamfleet declined to comment when approached.