Cheyne Capital Management has announced it has closed its Cheyne Real Estate Credit Holdings Fund III above target at approximately $770m (€688.4m), an 18% increase from its initial goal of $650m (€581m), bringing the net assets of Cheyne’s Real Estate team to $2.1bn (€1.9bn).
CRECH III is the third fund in Cheyne Capital’s real estate direct lending strategy, which started in 2011, following the launch of the Cheyne Real Estate Debt Fund, focused on CMBS and RMBS, in 2009.
CRECH III provides real estate loan solutions to help fill the gap left by European banks as they continue to retreat from lending and focus on asset disposals and recapitalisation.
Since the launch of the CRECH programme in 2011, Cheyne has deployed over $1.5bn (€1.3bn) in private credit investments and special situation opportunities.
The invested sum is spread across 38 different deals. Of these deals, the funds have realised seven investments with a realised profit (comprising coupon and profit participations) of $67m (€60m) against an investment sum of $248m (€222m) (representing a total return of 27%).
“We have known for a long time that there are ample opportunities in European real estate lending, and the closure and oversubscription of our third fund focused on this sector is continued proof that it remains ripe for investing.
“We plan to launch a fourth fund later this year,” said Ravi Stickney, Partner and head of Real Estate for Cheyne Capital.
“Europe’s continued emergence from the financial crisis as it rights the ship will fuel a strong pipeline of compelling deals in this sector, which will be led by an increased demand for alternative credit needed to fill the void left by the big banks retreating from this space”.
“Our long-term focus on European real estate has allowed us to build a large and experienced team that can identify and fund attractive opportunities in the sector, and the closure of our third fund in this space above target is an excellent testament to this ability.” said Stuart Fiertz, Co-Founder, President and Director of Credit Research for Cheyne Capital.
