(LONDON) – Hines, the global real estate firm, today announced that Hines European Property Partners (“HEPP” or the “fund”), its new diversified, open-ended core-plus fund focused on key European markets, has secured c. €800 million of equity commitments from investors at its first closing, less than three months after the fund’s launch.
Embarking on an accelerated program of equity raising, the fund has attracted a wide range of both new and existing investors, from the U.S and Europe. The fund aims to attract €1bn in investor equity in the first 12 months from investors around the world. Launched in early 2022, HEPP is led by Jorge Duarte, who joined Hines from Barings to take up the role of fund manager.
The fund is seeking to acquire and develop sustainable assets across a range of sectors including logistics, office, living – residential, student, and senior housing. HEPP will leverage Hines’ expertise and presence in 17 offices across Europe to identify investment opportunities in Europe’s most dynamic urban centers and gateway cities. The fund has already secured exclusivity on two separate deals in the living and office sectors.
The fund combines Hines’ proprietary research framework with its execution platform intending to create a portfolio of high-quality income-producing assets. The strategy will seek to maximize value at the asset level through active management while undertaking select developments to hold.
HEPP sits alongside its global sister funds, Hines U.S. Property Partners (HUSPP) and Hines Asia Property Partners (HAPP), providing investors with a family of regionally targeted, diversified, open-ended core-plus funds using the same combination of strong local teams and tailored investment strategies to suit relevant sub-markets. HUSPP and HAPP, both of which launched in 2021, together with HEPP, have secured $3.5 billion in combined commitments for the open-ended core-plus funds.
HEPP will complement Hines’ existing European funds, the Hines European Core Fund (HECF), the firm’s open-ended core flagship vehicle, and the Hines European Value Fund (HEVF) series, its close-ended value add counterpart.
Both HECF and Hines European Value Fund 2 (HEVF 2), the latter now closed to new investors, have market-leading ESG credentials as recognized by GRESB. HEPP intends to pursue a GRESB rating to underscore its ESG credentials.
Alex Knapp, chief investment officer for Europe, at Hines, commented: “We had a strong conviction that this fund would mirror the appeal of its global sister core-plus funds in the U.S and Asia, which has been realized through this exceptional equity raising in its first phase. With growing momentum, HEPP is expected to exceed our target of €1 billion in investor equity by the end of this year from investors seeking diversified global exposure.”
Jorge Duarte, fund manager of HEPP at Hines, said: “As anticipated, we are experiencing significant investor appetite for this fund. The macro trends such as ESG prioritization, technological advancement, and generational shifts are accelerating obsolescence across all sectors which is creating opportunities for core plus investing - there are a limited number of vehicles in this space. We believe our local presence across the major European markets and vertically integrated model means we are well placed to meet and capitalize on this demand.”
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About Hines
Hines is a privately owned global real estate investment firm founded in 1957 with a presence in 285 cities in 28 countries. Hines oversees investment assets under management valued at approximately $90.3 billion¹. In addition, Hines provides third-party property-level services to 373 properties totaling 114.2 million square feet. Historically, Hines has developed, redeveloped or acquired approximately 1,530 properties, totaling over 511 million square feet. The firm currently has more than 198 developments currently underway around the world. With extensive experience in investments across the risk spectrum and all property types, and a foundational commitment to ESG, Hines is one of the largest and most-respected real estate organizations in the world.
Since entering Europe in 1991, Hines has grown its European platform to include offices in 17 cities as well as a presence in 60 cities in 14 countries. Hines oversees investment assets under management valued at approximately €24.5 billion and provides third-party property-level services totaling 4.3 million square meters in Europe, in Austria, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Poland, Spain and the United Kingdom.
Visit www.hines.com for more information.
- Includes both the global Hines organization as well as RIA AUM as of 31 December 2021
About Hines European Property Partners (HEPP)
HEPP is a diversified open-ended core-plus fund focused on key European markets. HEPP will leverage Hines’ expertise and boots on the ground presence in 16 offices across Europe to identify investment opportunities in Europe’s most dynamic urban centres and gateway cities. The Fund will seek to acquire and develop sustainable assets across a range of sectors including logistics, office, living – residential, student and senior housing. HEPP will launch in Q2 2022 and aims to attract €1bn in investor equity to the strategy in the first 12 months from launch.
About Hines European Core Fund (HECF)
The HECF was set up in 2006 with the aim of providing investors with a resilient income profile and benchmark’s outperformance, derived from a diversified portfolio of high-quality assets located in prime locations across major European cities. As of Q4 2021 the HECF portfolio was 97% occupied with an aggregate fund value of c.€2.8bn. The portfolio of the Fund is comprised of 35 assets including forward commitments, invested in 16 city markets across ten different European countries.
About the Hines European Value Fund 2 (HEVF 2)
HEVF 2 is a euro-denominated, Luxembourg-based investment fund launched in December 2019. Managed by Hines, its objective is to acquire a portfolio of core-plus and value add profile commercial real estate investments throughout the major European markets on behalf of an institutional investor group. Whilst the fund has broad flexibility across sectors, the portfolio is largely focused in Logistics, Residential and Office usages.
HEVF 2 follows its predecessor HEVF 1 (2017 vintage) in continuing the flagship HEVF series for Hines in Europe, alongside the Hines European Core Fund (HECF) open-ended core flagship vehicle.
