Perseus Realty launches fundraising arm

An affiliate of the Washington DC-based private equity real estate firm has unveiled PRC Securities, which will raise funds for Perseus Realty and third party real estate vehicles targeting the middle market.

Perseus Realty Capital, the sister company of Perseus Realty Partners, has launched a capital  fundraising arm that will help raise equity for real estate vehicles targeting the middle market.

PRC Securities will also raise JV equity for individual projects and programmatic investments, as well as commingled funds for public and private real estate fund managers. The company will act as the placement agent for Perseus Realty Partners.

Perseus Realty Capital was founded by Perseus Realty Partners' president Paul Dougherty, in association with Perseus, the merchant bank and private equity fund, at the same time as the private equity real estate firm in 2005.

Managing director Jay Jarrett said in a statement the capital raising unit would target fund raises of between $350 million and $500 million. As part of the launch, Perseus Realty Capital has hired former Eastdil Secured real estate investment banking executive Julie Rost to head up the firm’s US west coast operations.

Earlier this year, Perseus Realty Partners launched a real estate debt financing vehicle, the PRP Participating Loan Program, to target distressed developers in the US.

PRP PLP will concentrate on property developments with a total capitalization of between $20 million and $75 million and provide up to $1 billion in financing for the development, redevelopment and acquisition of office, retail, industrial and multifamily properties.

In an interview to be published in next month’s PERE magazine, Dougherty says opportunities will grow as debt matures over the next two years as investors seek to cover the gap between their existing debt and the amounts lenders will provide in today’s credit market. However he says the spread between the bid and ask is still too large, with Dougherty telling PERE the PLP program has yet to make an investment.

“With all of the monies being raised for distressed debt and debt funds, fund managers might find that what they will ultimately be doing is refining or shifting their strategy away from debt because they won’t be able to push their capital out as broadly as they think they might,” Dougherty said in the interview, adding: “That being said, opportunistically, this is still one of the best times to invest that I’ve seen in a long time.”

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