For the first time, we have ranked Europe’s 20 leading real estate debt fund managers in our inaugural Real Estate Capital Debt Fund 20.

Compiled by our colleagues in research and analytics, organisations are ranked by the volume of third-party capital raised for European real estate lending strategies between 2014 and 2018 inclusive. Below is the countdown from 10-1.

To find out which organisations ranked from 20-11, click here.

For the full ranking and methodology, click here.

For data on the top 20’s lending activity and the largest funds in market, click here.

Now, we continue our countdown …

 

10

Tyndaris Real Estate

$1.51bn

London

Launched in 2013, the alternative investment advisory firm’s focus is mid-market lending opportunities in European real estate – ranging from €15 million to €100 million – through senior, whole loan, mezzanine debt and preferred equity.

The group is led by Clark Coffee and David White, former Deutsche Bank real estate bankers. The firm has a team of 11 professionals based in London and Madrid.

In February 2015, Tyndaris reached a final close on its debut real estate debt fund with assets under management standing at €350 million, as targeted. Its successor fund closed on €230 million in January 2017 and a third is to be launched this year. Including segregated account mandates, the firm has assets under management of around €1.2 billion.

Tyndaris lends across Europe, with most activity in the UK, Germany, Spain and France.

 

9

Cheyne Capital Management

$2.12bn

London

Founded in 2000, Cheyne Capital Management is a London-based alternative investment manager. Its head of real estate debt is Ravi Stickney.

After pursuing a real estate bond strategy from 2009, Cheyne launched its Cheyne Real Estate Credit property lending programme in 2011. The fund series has since invested £2.5 billion (€2.9 billion) in 67 private real estate debt deals.

In July 2018, Cheyne held the final close of its fifth real estate debt fund at its hard-cap of £600 million. The fund targets double-digit returns across the capital structure. Stickney said at the time that the close was “testament to the market’s need for customised, non-bank lending solutions”. The close brought Cheyne’s total assets under management for its real estate business to £2.3 billion.

Since the fund is more than 90 percent deployed, vintages six and seven are currently under consideration.

 

8

Caerus Debt Investments

$2.17bn

Dusseldorf

Dusseldorf-based Caerus Debt Investments is led by chief executive Michael Morgenroth and chief investment officer Patrick Züchner. The real estate debt team also includes investment managers Florian Niebur and Antje Bonnewitz. In 2013, Morgenroth fronted a management buyout of the lender, which was a subsidiary of Austria’s largest privately owned real estate group, Signa Holdings.

In July 2017, as reported by Real Estate Capital, Caerus reached a second close on its senior and whole loan fund, Archimedes, with capital commitments at the time standing at €129 million.

In 2018, Caerus provided more than €370 million of real estate loans. These focused on whole loan finance, but also included bridge and mezzanine lending. The main borrowers were portfolio owners and developers of offices and residential property in Germany, the Netherlands and Austria.

 

7

GreenOak Real Estate

$2.68bn

New York

Founded in 2010, GreenOak Real Estate specialises in equity and debt investments in properties in need of restructuring or asset repositioning. Its real estate lending business, run from London by Jim Blakemore, provides senior, junior and mezzanine loans, as well as bridge financing, with a focus on transitional assets across the UK and continental Europe.

In July 2017, GreenOak closed its second lending fund focusing on commercial property in the UK, the GreenOak UK Secured Lending Fund II, which amassed £625 million (€725 million). Later that year it closed its Europe Secured Lending Fund on €600 million – exceeding its target by €100 million. At the point of closing, the fund was 60 percent deployed through 12 loans in Germany, the Netherlands and Ireland, ranging in size from €5 million to €100 million. The borrowers were mainly US and European private equity real estate companies.

 

6

AgFe

$2.89bn

London

Launched in 2006, AgFe structures and manages discretionary funds and segregated accounts to invest institutional capital in public and private fixed-income assets. It established itself as a provider of senior real estate debt in the wake of the banks’ retrenchment. James Wright joined the firm in 2009 to focus on real estate debt.

The group in 2016 held a final close on £800 million (€911 million) for its first real estate Floating Rate Senior Debt Fund. In 2017, it launched its Senior Debt Fund II with an £800 million target. Its Higher Yield Real Estate Senior Debt Fund, launched the same year, is targeting £400 million, with a focus on transitional properties.

 

5

DRC Capital

$3.44bn

London

Dale Lattanzio, Rob Clayton and Cyrus Korat came together in 2008 to launch their debut high-yield fund, though DRC Capital was formally launched in 2012. It has established itself as a leading non-bank property lender across Europe.

It started out by raising capital for high-yield and mezzanine debt strategies. Its European Real Estate Debt Fund III closed on £600 million (€696 million) in 2017.

In recent years it has developed a senior and whole loan lending strategy. DRC has raised and invested more than €500 million for its senior debt funds and held a final close of its £700 million UK Whole Loan Fund in November 2018.

Savills Investment Management bought a 25 percent stake in the business in July 2018, with the option to acquire the remainder in 2021. The firm’s 20-strong team is based in London.

 

4

M&G Investments

$3.56bn

London

M&G launched its real estate finance arm in 2008 at the height of the financial crisis. In 2014 to 2018 inclusive, it wrote around $9 billion of loans in Europe across the capital stack. In doing so, it has established itself as one of Europe’s most prominent non-bank sources of real estate finance. It lends on behalf of its parent, UK insurance group Prudential, as well as third-party clients across a range of strategies.

The London-headquartered firm is active across traditional and alternative real estate types, including hotels and student housing. It committed £1.2 billion to new loans in 2018. Last November, it provided a £125 million development finance loan to Urbanest, a developer and operator of student housing, for a project in the City of London. John Barakat is its head of real estate finance and is based in London.

 

3

LaSalle Investment Management

$3.71bn

Chicago

The Chicago-based real estate specialist was an early mover into European property lending following the retrenchment by the traditional banks. From its London office, the firm has been investing in real estate debt since 2009, led by head of debt and special situations Amy Aznar.

In November 2017, it held a final close on £804 million (€932 million) of the third fund in its LaSalle Real Estate Debt Strategies series, exceeding its initial target of £750 million. The fund is focused on mezzanine and whole loan lending across western Europe.

The closing of LREDS III contributed to a bumper year of fundraising in 2017. That year, the firm also raised a £260 million third tranche of its LaSalle Residential Finance fund, bringing the capital raised for its debt strategies in 2017 to £1.1 billion.

In late 2018, LaSalle purchased a $1.2 billion majority stake in Latitude Management Real Estate Investors’ commercial real estate debt fund business. The acquisition formed part of a strategy to expand its debt business in the US.

 

2

ICG-Longbow

$4.74bn

London

The real estate business of UK asset manager Intermediate Capital Group manages more than £3.4 billion (€3.9 billion) of assets and is mainly focused on the origination and management of UK commercial and residential real estate debt. The group was founded as Longbow Real Estate Capital in 2006 by Kevin Cooper and Martin Wheeler, who remain co-heads of real estate UK. Since the financial crisis, the firm has established itself as a leading non-bank provider of property debt in the UK.

Notable business in recent years has included the close of its third senior debt vehicle, ICG-Longbow Senior Debt Programme Vintage III, on £370 million in August 2017. ICG-Longbow UK Real Estate Debt Investments IV – a fund that provides whole loans secured against property – had already held a final close on its £1 billion hard-cap in November 2016.

In November 2017, the group launched ICG-Longbow UK Real Estate Debt Investments V, which has a target of £1 billion.

 

1

AXA Investment Managers – Real Assets

$5.61bn

Paris

AXA tops our inaugural ranking comfortably, with $5.6 billion raised, including the €2.9 billion CRE Senior 9 in 2015.

AXA’s CRE Senior 10 fund, which closed on €1.5 billion in 2017, has not been counted, because it is partly invested in the US. However, if funds with a majority-focus on Europe were to be included, AXA’s total real estate debt fundraising in the five-year period would be significantly higher.

The Paris-headquartered firm was the first non-bank institution to enter the European real estate lending market, back in 2005. Today, it deploys around €2.5 billion annually through direct loans or participation in syndicated deals.

Between 2014 and 2018 inclusive, AXA reported real estate lending volumes of $16 billion in Europe. This made it a major source of debt finance across several markets. Isabelle Scemama is the group’s chief executive and is based in Paris. Timothé Rauly is head of the funds group and Antonio de Laurentiis is the head of private debt, CRE finance.