The PERE 50 countdown
A closer look at which managers made the cut (and how they got there)
The PERE 50 is back, and it’s a more expensive club to join than ever before.
The minimum amount of capital raising required to gain entry this year was $2.57 billion, up about 6 percent on last year and a whopping 80 percent on five years ago, when the ranking covered only 30 rather than 50 firms. At the top end of this year’s ranking is the $20 billion-plus club, with now three firms having amassed such a massive equity haul. Similarly, the number of managers that have raised more than $10 billion in the last five years has grown from four to seven.
To find out who those managers are, along with the full ranking and our methodology, click here.
Now, we continue off our countdown with the managers filling out ranks 39-30…
39- Keppel Capital
$3.41 billion
HQ: Singapore
Founded: 2004
source of fundraising
The only Singapore-based firm to crack the top 50, Keppel Capital, formerly Alpha Investment Partners, moved up from the final spot on last year’s list. One big capital infusion in 2017 came from the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, which said it would invest up to $500 million in Keppel’s Alpha Data Centre Fund. As of October, the Asia-Pacific and Europe-focused fund had raised $1 billion in committed capital and co-investments. The firm is also more than halfway to its $1 billion target for Alpha Asia Macro Trends Fund III, a value-added vehicle.
38- DRA Advisors
$3.42 billion
HQ: New York
Founded: 1991
New York headquarters
DRA Advisors knows the middle of the PERE 50 well, having bounced between 37th and 28th for the last seven years, reaching a high of 28th last year following its biggest fundraise to date. US-focused DRA Growth & Income Fund IX corralled $1.6 billion, with an additional $218 million in co-investments. Its predecessor collected $1.35 billion and $302 million in co-investments. Investors in both vehicles included the City of Ann Arbor Employees’ Retirement System, the Employees Retirement System of Texas and the Los Angeles Water & Power Employees’ Retirement Plan.
37- PGIM Real Estate
$3.51 billion
HQ: Madison
Founded: 2010
Most of PGIM Real Estate’s five-year equity tally came from funds raised before 2017, including the 2016-vintage PGIM European Value Partners Fund, which raised €457 million. Its sole equity final close last year was $235 million for PruMex IV CKD, a closed-ended real estate fund focused on industrial, for-sale residential, multifamily and mixed-use properties in Mexico. Two of its funds will drop out of the eligible window next year, but the firm is poised to offset that with six funds currently in market, targeting the US, Europe and Asia.
36- Orion Capital Managers
$3.52 billion
HQ: London
Founded: 1999
the firm
Orion Capital’s last big opportunistic capital-raising effort came in March 2017, when it closed its fifth western Europe-focused fund on €1.5 billion. Repeat investors included the Texas County and District Retirement System, which allocated $40 million to Fund IV and $70 million to Fund V. Orion is led these days by Aref Lahham after co-founding partners Van Stults and Bruce Bossom scaled down their holdings to allow new partners to assume proprietary positions.
35- Exeter Property Group
$3.53 billion
HQ: Conshohocken, Pennsylvania
Founded: 1994
Exeter has seen fundraising success for both its US value-added series and its new European fund focus. The firm launched its first Europe commingled fund last year, targeting €500 million-€700 million for Exeter Europe Value Venture III; it hit the halfway point to its capital goal by December. Early LPs include Singapore’s GIC, which committed €75 million, and the New Mexico State Investment Council, which earmarked $75 million. The firm’s latest US value-added fund, Exeter Industrial Value Fund IV, closed last year on $1.3 billion.
34- KSL Capital Partners
$3.55 billion
HQ: Denver
Founded: 2005
raised $2.7 billion for travel
and leisure in 2015
KSL Capital Partners’ position in the ranking continues to benefit from the nearly $2.7 billion in capital raised for KSL Capital Partners IV, its travel and leisure-focused fund. The vehicle closed higher than its original $2.25 billion fundraising target in September 2015, with the Washington State Investment Board committing $250 million and the New York State Common Retirement Fund investing $225 million. In total, the firm has raised $3.5 billion in capital for opportunistic and value-added strategies in the past five years.
33- Partners Group
$4.47 billion
HQ: Zug
Founded: 1996
The Zug, Switzerland-headquartered firm has climbed the ranking this year after raising approximately $1.2 billion for private real estate direct investments in 2017 (a sizeable leap from $381 million raised in 2016). PERE understands that all this capital was gathered via specific mandates and separate accounts. The firm’s $1.1 billion global private equity fund that closed in 2015 continues to fortify its position in the ranking since it falls in the five-year capital-raising period.
32- Invesco Real Estate
$3.77 billion
HQ: Dallas
Founded: 1983
Another firm that has dropped in the ranking this year is Invesco Real Estate. The Dallas-based investment manager’s funds in market include its fifth US value-added vehicle, launched last year, and its Asia opportunistic vehicle, launched in 2015. Apart from co-investment capital for the Asia opportunistic fund, no other capital raising was done for opportunistic or value-added strategies in 2017, PERE understands. In 2016, the firm closed the Invesco US Value-Add Fund IV on $750 million.
31- Kildare Partners
$3.86 billion
HQ: London
Founded: 2013
Relative newcomer Kildare Partners claimed a spot in the PERE 50 for the second year in a row on the strength of its two funds, Kildare European Partners I and II. The firm closed its second Europe-focused property fund on $1.95 billion in May, just slightly above the $1.91 billion raised for its debut property fund in 2014. Kildare began fundraising for KEP II in April last year, with a $2 billion target. Among KEP II’s investors were the Texas Permanent School Fund, New Mexico Educational Retirement Board and Texas Municipal Retirement System.
30- Meyer Bergman
$3.88 billion
HQ: London
Founded: 2004
The London-based retail property investment manager has slipped slightly from last year. This is despite the firm breaking its own fundraising record in January with the closing of its third fund. According to PERE reports, the firm closed the Meyer Bergman European Retail Partners III on €816 million, more than the €750 million it raised for its predecessor MBREP II in July 2014. Close to 55 percent of the investors in the second fund are understood to have re-upped in Fund III. 
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