Queensgate takes firepower to £1.5bn

Queensgate Investments, the London-based private equity real estate firm, has revealed fresh investment from Hong Kong’s Peterson Group.

Though the vehicle called Queensgate Investments Fund II is being described as a new fund, it is more like co-investment capital in that it comes from just one party alongside £500 million (€627 million; $842 million) that Queensgate raised two years ago for Fund I, which targets “predictable income and multiple value-add opportunities”.

Queensgate started investing in April 2012. It was set up by Jason Kow, who is a former head of special situations for London & Regional Properties and LJ Investment Group, a multifamily office with some £4 billion (€4.9 billion; $6.5 billion) of assets under supervision for around 200 families. The firm currently manages around£850 million of assets but the latest fundraising from Peterson Group means it has firepower of £1.5 billion.

Peterson Group is a global opportunity property company and high net worth family office with investments across Asia, North America and the UK.
It was founded in 1959 by Young Pui Kam as a small property investment firm in Hong Kong. It then formed a family office business later in 1990s.
Among its investments is London serviced office company, Executive Office Group, which controls 28 five and four-star serviced offices in the West End parts of the London such as Mayfair and Belgravia.

Kow said on the fresh equity injection: “Partnering with a flexible, nimble and long-term investor like Peterson, is a strategic move for Queensgate not only in terms of greater equity firepower but also the ability to acquire large and more exciting opportunities.”