M7 Real Estate has teamed up with a US investor to buy high-yielding assets in Portugal to build a €250m (£184m) portfolio.
M7 has existing joint ventures with Oaktree Capital Management, Starwood Capital and Goldman Sachs but its backing in Portugal is understood to be with a new partner.
The firm is best known as an investor and asset manager of multi-let light industrial but also buys offices and retail. The new venture will consider all asset classes in Lisbon and Porto and their surrounding areas.
The jv will utilise gearing of 60-65% and will have a lifespan of around five years. It has opened an office in Lisbon and appointed Leonardo Peres as its managing director to lead the drive. Peres joins from CBRE where he was a senior industrial/logistics consultant. He will be responsible for acquisitions and asset management for M7 in the country in conjunction with the London team.
Chief executive Richard Croft said: “Portugal is on the radar of many real estate investors because of its improving economy and attractive pricing. With the opening of the Lisbon office M7 will have on-the-ground expertise to find investment opportunities in a market where it is difficult to establish scale.”
M7 now has a presence in eight European markets and has assets under management of more than €1.3bn.
Last month it gained backing from the billionaire Hong Kong-based Kwok family to build a pan-European portfolio and agreed an option to sell them 25% of the M7 business.
