BGO – a leading global real estate investment management advisor, real estate lending advisor, and provider of real estate services – announced the successful final close of its third Europe Secured Lending Fund, with a total of €1.38 billion in commitments from 40 global institutional investors. The fund surpassed the initial target of €1.35 billion.
This is BGO’s third fund for Europe Secured Lending and is a complement to the BGO UK Secured Lending strategy – which raised £1.43 billion for its third fund and also held its final close in 2023. Combined with BGO’s UK-specific debt strategy fundraising, the firm raised $3.3 billion over the past three years. And this announcement also adds to a decade of successful debt strategy closes for BGO (and its predecessor firms) across the globe, with over $7 billion in funds raised over that timeframe.
The Europe debt business was launched over ten years ago at predecessor firm GreenOak Real Estate by senior management Jim Blakemore, Manja Stueck, and Chris Taylor, who have been working together for over 18 years. Since then, it has established eight discretionary debt funds and has invested over $6.5 billion in commercial real estate loans in Europe and the UK.
The lending strategy was designed to be relevant through market cycles. And it provides direct lending across a range of real estate asset classes like logistics, multi-family residential, hospitality, retail and office across the UK and Western Europe. Plus, it focuses on mid-market senior and whole loans and has the ability to provide junior debt for appropriate opportunities. Loan amounts typically range from €25 million to €300 million. The recent deals include a loan facility of over £100 million for a life science development in Cambridge/ UK, and over €200 million for a Build to Rent residential platform strategy in major Spanish cities.
The dedicated BGO in-house team asset manages each loan investment, and as an SFDR Article 8 fund, environmental, social and governance (ESG) considerations will be integrated throughout this third Europe Secured Lending Fund’s lending process and asset management of the strategy.
KEY QUOTES:
“We believe that BGO’s Europe and UK Secured Lending strategies align to clear investor demand and the opportunity to take advantage of the continuing alternative credit market for commercial real estate today. This fund has been raised in a challenging environment, so the fact that we exceeded our target speaks to our reputation as one of the largest and most trusted alternative lending teams in Europe.”
“The BGO platform, with its integrated asset management capabilities and the breadth of our presence in Europe’s most important markets continues to earn us the confidence of our investors and borrowers. The steady growth of our debt platform is a testament to our team’s consistency and commitment to performance for our clients.”
— Jim Blakemore, Managing Partner, Global and European Head of Debt at BGO
