AEW, Natixis complete third close with more than €500m in commitments

AEW and Natixis Asset Management, two affiliates of Natixis Global Asset Management, have completed a third closing for the pan-European debt fund, SELF II. The close increases the fund’s capacity to more than €500 million ($593 million) in equity commitments. The total amount raised by the debt platform, since its inception in 2012, now exceeds €1 billion ($1.18 billion).

“This new fund raising reflects the strong appetite among French and international investors for our asset class and the opportunity that our SELF platform provides to successfully access real estate debt markets across Europe,” said Cyril Hoyaux, co-head of the real estate debt platform.

Institutional investors that committed to the fund were from France, Germany and Italy.

Over the last three months, SELF II has completed three new investments in loans financing the acquisition of a retail portfolio in France, Germany and Poland, of data centers in France and Italy, and of the CB16 office tower in Paris La Défense. To date, around 50 percent of the fund’s capital has been allocated to France and Germany, and the rest across Italy, the Benelux and Poland; with Spain a potential market for future lending.

“Our real estate debt platform continues to grow at a sustained pace, without compromising on asset quality or process of deals selections and follow up,” said Arnaud Heck, co-head of the real estate debt platform. “Our three latest investments are in line with this approach, with co-arranged transactions or structured as small club deals.”

In addition, the real estate debt team has recruited two additional members. Chaoki Ben Halima has joined Natixis AM from Generali and Sylvain Deschamps has joined as part of an internal move from AEW where he was in charge of real estate financing operations on behalf of third parties. He previously spent over two years in the real estate financing team at Société Générale. Chaoki and Sylvain, who will report to Cyril Hoyaux and Arnaud Heck and whose combined experience will serve to further strengthen the team’s expertise, will be responsible for loan origination and the assessment of investment opportunities.