fundraising

Michael Zerda, head of Blackstone Real Estate Debt Strategies in Europe, will take on Amy Klein Aznar’s role at LaSalle as she becomes executive chair of the debt and special situations business.

Oaktree’s substantial deployment of its latest property fund is not indicative of dealflow in the market overall, but rather that it is ahead of the pack.

The manager, which was founded by former Deutsche Bank credit and real estate specialists in 2015, has already deployed €330m across seven investments primarily secured against European offices.

The manager secured commitments from new and existing participants in its European credit fund series.

Ralf Kind, head of the company’s debt business, says investors are looking for safety by backing lending strategies.

In the second of a two-part review of 2020, we examine how real estate lenders continued to do business, and raise fresh capital, amid the uncertainty created by covid-19.

The London-based manager, which has begun investing its sixth and seventh credit vehicles, says covid-19 has forced sponsors to adapt their strategies.

Though new relationships are still on hold throughout much of the world, many kinds of investors are still finding ways to grow their real estate exposure.

Following the €435m first close of its latest credit vehicle, the manager’s debt experts discuss fundraising in the time of covid-19.

The wall of capital will likely mean lower returns for property credit strategies. But that has not deterred institutional capital from piling in, as this record-breaking close will attest.