Aberdeen to launch global RE secondaries fund – report

The investment firm is hoping to raise as much as €500m for the vehicle, two years after it closed a Europe-focused secondaries fund.

Aberdeen Asset Management is hoping to raise as much as €500 million for a global real estate secondaries fund, according to a report.

The UK-headquartered investment firm is preparing to raise the fund and will mainly focus on Europe, as well as Asia-Pacific and the Americas, Investment & Pensions Europe reported, citing Mark Wilkins, Aberdeen’s head of property multi-manager, EMEA.

It was not clear what the fund will be called.

Aberdeen most recently raised €300 million for Aberdeen European Secondaries Property Fund of Funds, which closed on target after 11 months of fundraising, according to sister publication PERE data. Limited partners who committed to that fund include Sweden’s AP Fonden 1 and Korea Scientists & Engineers Mutual-aid Association.

The firm is ramping up its secondaries business, particularly in private equity, in anticipation of rise in deals fuelled by macroeconomic volatility, Aberdeen’s head of secondaries Colin Burrow told sister publication Private Equity International in August. Opportunities from both market volatility and central bank-driven liquidity needs could see its allocation to secondaries expand from 30 percent of its private equity portfolio, Burrow said.

Deal volume for real estate secondaries last year was estimated at around $8.2 billion, according to a report by secondaries firm Landmark Partners, and market sources expect a drop to around $4 billion for 2016.

Despite this, several funds focusing on the strategy have launched this year, including Partners Group’s Real Estate Secondary 2017 fund, which is expected to seek more than $2 billion, and Landmark Partners, which is seeking $2 billion for Landmark Real Estate Partners VIII, as Secondaries Investor reported.

In September, Blackstone’s Strategic Partners held the final close on $1.3 billion for Strategic Partners Real Estate Fund VI.

Aberdeen declined to comment on the fundraise.