Ares Management Corporation announced the final closing of its third European property enhancement fund, Ares European Property Enhancement Partners III SCSp, with approximately €1.5 billion of commitments.
“We are pleased with the enthusiastic support that we have received from both existing and new investors in the successor of our European Property Enhancement fund series, and we recognize that much of this has been driven by the positive results demonstrated by the predecessor funds,” said Bill Benjamin, Partner and Head of the Ares Real Estate Group.
Ares said EPEP III invests across key property types in Europe’s largest and most liquid markets and is off to a strong start with over 30% of its capital deployed.
To date, the fund’s investment activity has been focused on logistics and residential, which are currently Ares’ highest conviction real estate sectors.
“The strong investor support for this fund and our other real estate strategies has further bolstered our prominence in the market. We believe that the experience of our real estate team, our local market presence in Europe for over 25 years, as well as our positioning within the broader Ares platform delivers significant competitive advantages in our ability to source and execute compelling deal flow for the fund and for our investors,” added Benjamin.
“We are seeing a rapidly evolving opportunity set driven by the start of a new business cycle and unprecedented changes in real estate user preferences fueled by the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Wilson Lamont, Partner and Co-Head of European Real Estate Equity in the Ares Real Estate Group. “We are encouraged by the investments that we have capitalized on to date and look forward to continuing to leverage our capabilities to source a portfolio of opportunities where we see attractive secular tailwinds.”
