Impact fund manager Bridges Ventures has raised an initial £168m in its latest UK sustainable and social developments fund.
The four-year Bridges Property Alternatives Fund IV has raised £150m from local authority pension funds in its first close. The remainder of the fund has come from private investors.
The fund will invest in care homes, low-cost housing and environmentally-friendly property refurbishment. Its first care home deal is a £10m investment in the development of 75 assisted living units next to Queen Mary’s Hospital in Sidcup, south-east London.
Simon Ringer, head of property funds at Bridges Ventures, said: “We like sectors that are driven by societal need and consumer patterns and demographics. The UK has an aging population and a relatively low provision of state-provided facilities, so we are doing more in the care home sector.”
With its previous fund, Bridges Ventures undertook a drive into affordable housing, building 700 units across the upcoming Crossrail network in Abbey Wood, SE2, Hayes, south east London, and Wembley, north west London.
It will continue investing in affordable housing in Fund IV and is due to conclude an off-market deal next week for the development of 400 to 500 affordable and social housing units in London.
Fund IV hopes to raise a further £132m in the coming year, with an expectation that capital will be attracted from the US.
Ringer said Fund IV would be similar to Fund III, which had a gearing level of 38% and a net IRR of 15-20%.
Fund III closed last June, having raised £212m.
The four Bridges funds
£28m Original Bridges Sustainable Property Fund final close 2010
£47m CarePlaces Fund (in partnership with Castleoak) Fund II final close 2011
£212m Bridges Property Alternatives Fund III final close 2015
£168m Bridges Property Alternatives Fund IV first close 2016
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