TruAmerica launches debut fund – Exclusive

The Los Angeles-based multifamily firm is rolling out its first real estate offering after recently exiting some of its initial investments.

TruAmerica Multifamily, a Los Angeles-based real estate investment firm, is going to market with its first property fund, TruAmerica Multifamily Value-Add Fund I, PERE has learned.

TruAmerica is targeting $400 million for the fund, with a $500 million hard-cap, according to sources familiar with the matter.

To date, TruAmerica has raised capital and invested in Class B multifamily assets on a deal-by-deal basis with equity partners that include Ares Management, Allstate Corporation and Investcorp. Recent transactions include the acquisition of a 708-unit, two-property apartment portfolio in Orlando, Florida for $98 million with Investcorp; and the purchase of Broadstone Gateway, a 240-unit family community in the Phoenix, Arizona metro area with Ares for $30.75 million. Both transactions were announced last month.

The firm declined to comment on the fundraise. To date, TruAmerica has exited six investments that were originally acquired between December 2013 and June 2015. During the fourth quarter, the firm sold four apartment communities in the Seattle and San Francisco Bay Area markets for a total of $275 million. The dispositions of the four assets – which were among the company’s first investments – yielded proceeds that exceeded investor targets and averaged double-digit cash-on-cash returns over three-year hold periods, according to a statement at the time.

TruAmerica manages a $6.7 billion portfolio of approximately 32,000 units throughout Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Maryland, Nevada, Oregon, Utah and Washington, according to its website.

Traditionally focused on the western US, the firm has expanded to the eastern US in the past two years, acquiring properties in suburban Baltimore and Annapolis, Maryland in 2016 and four properties in Florida in 2017.

TruAmerica was founded in 1993 by Robert Hart and Guardian Life, which had invested together while Hart oversaw the multifamily platform at Kennedy Wilson. Guardian Life is a passive 80 percent shareholder in the company, which currently has $6.7 billion of assets under management comprising 32,044 apartment units. In addition to its Los Angeles headquarters, the firm has its East Coast headquarters in Arlington, Virginia and regional offices in Seattle, Denver and San Francisco.