Henderson Park Raises £1.3B For Latest European Fund

European fund manager Henderson Park has raised $1.6B (£1.3B) for its latest value-add fund, Bisnow can reveal, even as fundraising for real estate more generally drops. 

The firm, run by veteran investor Nick Weber, raised the money for Henderson Park Real Estate Fund II, according to a document filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. It raised an initial $500M last year, according to a separate SEC filing. 

The fund has an equity target of €2.5B (£2.1B), which would see it eclipse the €1.9B the firm raised for its first fund in 2019.

Henderson Park was founded by Weber in 2016 after he left Mount Kellett, and its initial backers included the Kuwait Investment Authority and Stone Point Capital. It has made big profits on deals from its first fund, including numerous investments in London offices and build-to-rent. 

The firm has been an active investor over the past 18 months, even as interest rates rose sharply, causing capital markets to freeze. 

It bought the historic 241-bedroom Caledonian Hotel in Edinburgh for £85M in July with plans to invest in upgrades and room refurbishment. It paid £140M last year for the Silverburn shopping centre in Glasgow, making it one of the first fund managers to start investing in large-scale shopping centres. 

In London, Henderson Park is partnering with General Projects to retrofit an old office in Marylebone previously occupied by Woolworth. Plans call for creating a new 175K SF green building called Metropolis, with an extension using a timber frame to reduce carbon consumption. 

Earlier this year, it bought German residential platform GBI with plans to increase its investment in that sector in Germany. 

Bisnow revealed last year that Henderson Park had started investing in the U.S., buying a golf and hotel complex near Palm Springs, California, from Blackstone for $255M. The company invests in the U.S. through joint ventures rather than through its funds.

Henderson Park declined to comment.