Edmond de Rothschild Real Estate Investment Management (REIM) has raised £320 million in equity commitments for its Edmond de Rothschild Residential Investment Fund UK, exceeding its initial target size of £250 million.
The company has secured £85 million of new equity at the final close from 20 European institutional investors for the fund, increasing its investment capacity to £535 million, including debt.
”The new equity has already been committed to a number of projects for which Edmond de Rothschild REIM is either in exclusive or advanced negotiations,” the company said in a statement.
The Edmond de Rothschild Residential Investment Fund UK, which invests in the private rented sector (PRS) with a focus on need and affordability, was launched in August 2018. It is creating a diversified portfolio of purpose-built PRS assets, delivering sustainable, stable and growing distributions over the long term.
Edmond de Rothschild REIM focuses on the lower-to-mid market and has identified regional cities and locations across the UK where demand for rented accommodation is strong and set to grow and where existing stock is predominantly old, poor quality and in houses of multiple occupation.
The fund delivers further positive impact by regenerating or repurposing brownfield urban sites with the provision of new build housing. All are built in compliance with the latest UK sustainable building regulations and standards. The fund’s first nine assets are forward-funding agreements and direct developments in Leicester (two sites), Birmingham, Warrington, Nottingham (two sites), Rugby, Gateshead and Glasgow, which, in total, will deliver around 2,500 apartments.
James Whidborne, head of residential fund management UK at Edmond de Rothschild REIM, said: “We are grateful for the huge interest and support from our investors towards our PRS strategy, which reflects the fundamental strength of the sector in the UK. We believe the current environment continues to provide an excellent opportunity to create high-quality rental assets at affordable levels, delivering attractive and sustainable investor returns. We want to build on this success and create further funds to continue to give investors access to this attractive sector, while also delivering on our conviction to place the end user at the heart of our approach, contributing to urban and social regeneration”.
