La Banque Postale AM raises €400m for RE debt fund

La Banque Postale Asset Management (LBPAM) has reached a second close on its real estate debt fund, having raised €400 million.

The fund invests in senior debt across Europe and is to remain open for subscriptions during the first quarter of 2017.

LBPAM, the asset management arm of the bank owned by France’s national postal service, announced a first close of the fund back in April. The first close was announced alongside that of an infrastructure debt fund, with a combined €533 million raised, understood to be fairly evenly split between the funds.

In April, Real Estate Capital reported that the real estate debt fund will target senior secured loans backed by mainly offices, retail and residential property in France, the Benelux and Germany. A small allocation within the fund will be able to invest in locations including Spain and Italy and sectors including logistics, healthcare and hotels. It will focus on properties with stabilised cash-flows and will not finance development.

The fund will target an average loan sizes of between €20-50 million, rising to in the region of €100 million with co-investment from dedicated funds. Loan-to-value ratios will be up to 65 percent for core properties and targeted spreads are in the region of 150-170 basis points. Loan terms will be on average four years.

LBPAM’s private debt team was established in 2012. Alongside the second close of the real estate debt fund, the asset manager announced a €413 million second close of its two infrastructure funds and a first close of its corporate debt fund on €240 million.

“With these latest closings, LBPAM is pursuing the development of its private debt investment solutions platform, which now hosts a dozen multi-investor or dedicated funds, totalling €3.5 billion, covering infrastructure, real-estate and corporate debt, integrating an ESG approach and managed by a team of 10 experts,” said René Kassis, head of LBPAM Private Debt.

LBPAM is a 70 percent subsidiary of France’s La Banque Postale. It is 25 percent owned by Aegon AM and 5 percent owned by insurer Malakoff Médéric. The firm manages the majority of La Banque Postale funds which are directed towards retail and wealth management clients. It also runs open-ended funds.