Pantheon backs $1bn RE joint venture

Pantheon has used its fledgling real estate platform to seed a new joint venture on the back of a secondaries recap.

The London-headquartered firm recapitalised a portfolio managed by ShopOne Centers REIT, a specialist manager of grocery-anchored shopping centres in the US, according to a statement. The resultant JV has been injected with more than $1 billion in additional capital for follow-on deals.

Pantheon and an unidentified large institutional investor provided an equal share of capital, with ShopOne committing around 5 percent, according to someone with knowledge of the matter. The JV will pursue deals with similar profiles as the recapped assets.

While the size of the recapitalisation is not clear, Secondaries Investor understands there were seven assets in the deal. ShopOne did not previously invest out of a fund structure.

A spokesman for Pantheon declined to comment. ShopOne did not respond to a request for comment by press time.

The JV will target retail centres located in high-population metropolitan areas, as well as select college towns and established vacation destinations. ShopOne’s tenants include Publix, Target, Aldi, TJ Maxx and Marshalls, according to its website.

The JV is looking to do between 50 and 100 sub-$30 million deals, Secondaries Investor understands.

Pantheon’s real estate strategy was launched in July 2021 to provide “flexible capital” to institutional owner/operators and fund expansion, it said at the time. The strategy is led by head of real estate Roman Braslavsky, who joined from US mid-market private equity firm GI Partners.

This is not the first time a secondaries deal has laid the foundation for a primary partnership.

In November, Ping An Insurance received commitments totalling $750 million from a group of investors – including Goldman Sachs Asset Management, Montana Capital Partners and Ardian – to lift private assets off Ping An’s balance sheet while allowing the partnership to go after new secondaries and co-investment deals.

This transaction has similarities with Mubadala Capital’s August deal in which assets were sold to a consortium led by BlackRock, alongside a $400 million unfunded primary commitment to a fresh Mubadala fund.

This article was updated to reflect that the capital came from the Real Estate team, not the secondaries team.