Distress Investor Seeks $6B For New Fund As Market Turns
Lone Star funds, one of the investors that made hay during the last downturn, is seeking $6B for a new opportunistic fund aiming to take advantage of the downturn in real estate values seen in the past 12 months.
The Dallas-based firm launched Lone Star Real Estate Fund VII in February, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund has an equity target of $6B, IPE Real Assets reported.
The fund will target opportunistic returns by buying assets in North America, Europe and Japan, IPE said, adding that the Teachers’ Retirement System of Louisiana had made an equity $75M commitment.
The fund will make equity and debt investments and, as an opportunistic vehicle, will target returns of 15% or more.
Lone Star is run by veteran investor John Grayken. Its sixth real estate fund raised $4.6B in 2019.
In the wake of the 2008 financial crisis, Lone Star was active buying portfolios of nonperforming property loans from distressed banks, including a £900M portfolio from Lloyds Banking Group in 2011 and a €4.8B portfolio from liquidated Irish bank Anglo Bank the same year.
As the market progressed, it moved on to large portfolios, including taking private listed UK developer Quintain for £1B in 2015. Two sales of the business, which valued Quintain at more than £2.2B, were aborted after Lone Star held out for a higher price.
