US private equity pioneer KKR expects to reach a first close on its maiden Asia real estate fund within the next three months, according to a report today by Reuters.
The funding vehicle, which would be in addition to the firm’s global real estate funds and its buyout strategies, is said to have already raised significant capital from limited partners including sovereign wealth funds and pension managers.
KKR itself will be committing $250 million in equity to the strategy, according to the media account.
Adding to $2B in Asia Real Estate Investments
The new vehicle would add to some $2 billion in equity and debt commitments that KKR has made to Asia Pacific real estate since 2011, including transactions in South Korea, Australia, China, India, New Zealand and Singapore.
Former CLSA Real Estate CEO John Pattar joined the firm as head of the APAC real estate team in May 2018 and now leads a team of around 20 real estate executives in the region, covering both the company’s equity and credit strategies.
The company has not yet named its limited partners in the in the new fund, and sources at KKR had not yet responded to requests for comment from Mingtiandi by the time of publication.
Following Up on Flurry of Regional Deals
In February of this year KKR invested $102 million in a Bangalore office project being developed by India’s Embassy Group, the same firm that recently teamed with Blackstone to launch India’s first REIT. That southern India deal came after the New York-based firm had invested $262 million in a trio of Mumbai office deals in July.
In October last year the private equity firm made a splash in Seoul by teaming up with Korea’s IGIS Asset Management and the National Pension Service of Korea to acquire a mixed-use real estate project in Seoul’s Gangnam business district expected to cost approximately KRW 2.1 trillion (US$1.9 billion).
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