Latest Tristan fund raises €1.5bn

money-euro-coin-stacks-THUMB.jpegTristan Capital has completed a first and final close of €1.5bn (£1bn) for its latest fund.

The private equity fund manager, led by chief executive Ric Lewis, has pulled off its latest coup, which follows a strong track record of fund raising in the real estate sector.

The capital-raising effort secured €1.2bn from 25 investors in just four months for the European Property Investors Special Opportunities 4 fund. In addition it has received a further €300m in commitments from another nine investors that will be deposited by the end of September.

This pushes the capital up to the fund’s hard cap of €1.5bn, a feat it has achieved in a record time for the company.

The fund was originally reported to be targeting a total size of €950m in April but the previous success of the company’s funds and a targeted 15% triple net annual return for EPISO 4 created strong interest in the latest vehicle.

The company said that capital-raising efforts were so successful that a further €500m of investor commitments had to be turned down.

The EPISO 4 fund will follow in the strategy of the previous EPISO funds and invest in western and central European property across all the main asset classes, including residential.

Lewis said: “Real estate has become an attractive alternative for fixed-income investments both in terms of yield and duration in a low interest-rate, low-inflation marketplace. Our recent fund offering also benefited from the strong appetite for European property assets where there is still considerable value to be extracted as the EU’s economic recovery gains momentum. This is the largest single equity raise in the firm’s history and I’m proud that the vast majority of the capital committed was from our existing investors.”

The capital was committed by 50% of investors from the US, up from 40% on the previous EPISO 3 fund, 25% from the Asia-Pacific region and 25% from the UK.

This is the eighth fund raised by Tristan in its history. EPISO 3 was raised in January last year with a close of €950m. Since closing that fund has invested in 30 properties across Europe.

The company also invests in core-plus strategies through its CCP funds, which are also onto their fourth iteration.

jack.sidders@estatesgazette.com