Mesa West targets $750m for fourth debt fund

Mesa West Capital is looking to raise $750m for the Mesa West Real Estate Income Fund IV, its fourth debt fund, Real Estate Capital has learned.

Mesa West’s third fund, launched in 2013, surpassed its $650m target to close at $752m. It targeted 12 percent net returns. Investors in the third fund included Texas Permanent School Fund, Los Angeles City Employees Retirement System (LACERS), Hawaii Employees’ Retirement System and the San Diego City Employees’ Retirement System. Most of those were returning LPs from the firm’s second fund.

The new fund will originate first mortgages for acquisition, refinancing and recapitalization of commercial real estate assets. The firm is best known as a transitional real estate lender, competing with the likes of the Blackstone Group and Starwood Property Trust. But the new fund could ultimately take on a “core-like focus,” targeting more established, stabilized assets than previous funds, sources said.

Mesa West, which manages $3.2bn in assets, has raised about $1.57bn for its first three real estate funds since launching its first in the Q1 of 2005. The firm announced the opening of its third office in Chicago last month, hiring former Wells Fargo Bank executive Matthew Snyder at the helm.

Mesa West declined to comment.