Deals

SC Capital closes debut core-plus fund on $452m – Exclusive

SC Capital Partners has raised more than half of the fund’s capital from European investors, including a first-time commitment from Germany’s biggest public pension fund manager.  

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SC Capital Partners, the Singapore-based investment management firm, has closed its debut Asia-focused core-plus fund on $451.5 million.

The SC Core Fund officially held a final close end June, PERE has learned from a source familiar with the matter.

The capital raised is more than the $400 million initial fundraising target set by the firm at the time of the fund launch in mid-2015. Yet, in January this year however PERE had reported that the firm was anticipating a $480 million final close, but this did not materialize due to some investor commitments not meeting the final closing deadline, the source added.

So far, the fund has invested in a total of five assets, including an investment in a women’s dormitory in Tokyo made last month. IRRs of between 8 and 10 percent are being targeted from the fund investments.

The SC Core Fund was initially structured as a closed-ended fund but the firm decided to change it to an open-ended vehicle after some of the investors encouraged it to have an evergreen fund structure and permanent capital. In its current form, the fund will now resume capital raising only after the completion of a three-year lock-in period, or once 95 percent of the fund’s equity has been invested.

As many as 13 investors have committed capital to SC Capital’s first low risk/return vehicle, including seven European and six US institutions. The Wyoming State Loan and Investment Board (SLIB), the state agency managing Wyoming’s land funds, is one of the biggest limited partners (LP) in the fund with a $150 million commitment.

Of the European investors – which have allocated more than 50 percent of the total capital – the German pension fund manager Bayerische Versorgungskammer’s (BVK) commitment is particularly notable. This is understood to be the first time that Germany’s biggest public pension manager has backed a SC Capital fund.

Over the years, BVK has been consistently increasing its real estate exposure in Asia. In September 2015, it awarded €700 million equity in total to three pan-regional separate account mandates run by Alpha Investment Partners, CBRE Global Investment Partners, and Arch Capital.