REC Contributor

The difference between the yields on government bonds and on property is sometimes used to determine if property looks cheap or expensive on a relative scale. Prime property in Europe’s core markets is attractive to a particular sort of investor: international, risk- averse and with high capital allocations. They now dominate many parts of the market and their main targets remain London, then Paris and then the top five German cities.

London Pensions Fund Authority (LPFA) has opted for Apollo Capital Management to manage a £150 million private debt mandate out of four possible candidates, the pension fund manager announced. The mandate will include real estate debt as well as distressed debt, leveraged senior loans and private lending target and will target an absolute return, net of fees, of between 10 and 15 % writes Anna Devine of Private Debt Investor.

Returns on senior UK commercial real estate debt are forecast to be 3.6% on a gross basis and 3.5% on a risk-adjusted basis at the end of Q1 2015

After years in the doldrums, CMBS is on its way back. Although deal activity remains low compared with the heights of 2006, it is increasing across the US and EU as investors seek higher yields. As the market starts to recover, the regulatory landscape has shifted, to one of risk retention and closer bed fellows. Recently, the Bank of England and European Central Bank published a joint response to a European Bank Authority report late last year on how to improve (or retrain, depending on your perspective) the securitisation markets, mainly by tightening EU risk retention rules.

London-based alternative investment manager Omni Partners has reached a first close of $45m on its second secured lending fund which will provide short-term finance for UK real estate projects. Omni Secured Lending Fund (OSL) II is targeting $250m and it should reach that target by the end of the third quarter, the firm’s founder Steve Clark told Real Estate Capital’s sister publication Private Debt Investor.