Harrison Street Raises £675M For Fresh Assault On Europe’s Hot Sectors
Chicago-based fund manager Harrison Street has raised €800M (£675M) of equity for a new fund that will invest in three of Europe’s booming real estate sectors — life sciences, student housing and build-to-rent.
The firm beat the target of €750M that it had set for Harrison Street European Property Partners III, PERE reported. The equity came from 25 investors from around the world and 60% were new investors with Harrison Street.
The fund is already 75% deployed, PERE said, with life sciences topping the list of assets Harrison Street has bought so far. That sector is where it sees the largest potential for growth.
“Venture capital investing in life sciences has continued to outpace the growth in real estate availability principally across every country in Europe,” Harrison Street Europe chief executive Paul Bashir said. “Life sciences is a very human capital-intensive business, and as companies take on new investment and look to expand, they need to find new space.”
Bashir told PERE that in each of the sectors in which Harrison Street invests in Europe, the maturity of the market is about six to eight years behind the U.S., allowing lots of room for growth, especially given the demographic support the three sectors each have.
