Partners hits €2bn mark on RE secondaries program

The program comprises four sleeves, one of which will continue to accept commitments from US investors.

Partners Group has hit the target on its latest real estate secondaries fund and expects to continue fundraising, PERE’s sister publication, Secondaries Investor, reported Wednesday.

The Zug, Switzerland-headquartered alternative investment manager has raised €2 billion for its third program dedicated to the strategy from investors across Europe, Latin America and Asia, according to a statement.

The program has already made 15 investments, including acquiring a portfolio of six offices and multifamily assets across the US cities of Denver, Boulder, Seattle, Portland and Austin, and one comprising seven assets across Sweden and Finland in the retail, logistics, hospitality and education sectors.

Investors comprise a mix of old and new public and corporate pension plans, corporations, insurance companies, endowment funds and foundations, the statement noted. Partners Group’s employees, together with affiliates of the firm, committed close to €70 million of the total raised.

Partners Group Real Estate Secondary 2017 launched in October 2016, according to PERE data. The program comprises four sleeves: two in euros and two in US dollars, a spokesperson for the firm told Secondaries Investor. One of the US vehicles is still open to client commitments while the others have closed. The announced €2 billion figure only includes commitments from non-US investors in the sleeves that have closed.

Investors in the fund include California State Teachers’ Retirement System, which committed $200 million, and the London Borough of Camden Pension Fund, which committed the equivalent of $94 million, according to PERE data.

Partners Group Real Estate Secondary 2017 is the largest fund dedicated to the strategy in market. In April, Landmark Partners hit a $3.3 billion final close on its eighth real estate secondaries fund, the largest ever raised for the strategy.

Real estate secondaries transaction volumes dropped by 2.4 percent year-on-year to $3.1 billion in the first half of this year, according to a half-year report by intermediary Setter Capital.