ASR Real Estate Investment Management has completed the first close of its new retail fund raising €380m (£316m).
The real estate investment division of Dutch insurance company ASR launched the ASR Dutch Prime Retail Fund in July with a target of €300m.
Subscribers to the fund comprise a number of European institutional investors alongside ASR, which is the original owner of the €1.1bn seed portfolio, and remains committed to the fund as a long-term cornerstone investor.
The fund’s seed portfolio comprises around 210 prime Dutch retail real estate assets let to more than 620 tenants including solitaire/single high street shops, shopping centres and supermarkets across more than 3m sq ft.
It also has a pipeline of attractive secured investment opportunities valued at around €300m.
The fund is a contractual mutual fund, governed by Dutch law, with an indefinite life and will maintain a low level of gearing to provide liquidity for the fund manager and enable redemptions for investors where necessary.
It has also been set up in line with INREV guidelines to ensure best practice reporting and ongoing transparency for investors.
ASR chief executive Jos Baeten said: “I am proud that we managed to complete this closing so quickly in this difficult market.
“The sale of a portion of our real estate holdings serves two major strategic purposes for ASR. First of all, it brings our asset mix closer to Solvency-II optimal levels and more liquidity to our property portfolio.
“At the same time, we have been able to retain our exposure to some of the best performing assets in the Dutch retail investment market through our commitment as a long term and majority investor in the newly created fund.
Dick Gort, director at ASR REIM, said: “Our ability to organise and oversubscribe this fund in just a few months is a strong endorsement for us and has accelerated the transition of ASR REIM into a fund management business.”
ASR REIM was advised by placement agent, CBRE Real Estate Finance. De Brauw Blackstone Westbroek provided legal advice and PWC acted as tax lawyer to the fund.
bridget.o’connell@estatesgazette.com
