CDH closes opportunistic fund

CDH Investments Management closed fundraising for the CDH Special Opportunity Fund on Dec. 31, 2013, after raising $79 million between fund commitments and co-investment in the fund’s first project. The opportunistic fund will provide equity to development projects in second-tier cities in mainland China. With leverage, it has a potential buying power of approximately $113 million.

Together with co-investors, the fund has invested $38 million into Project Amber, a mixed-use development project located in Xian, the provincial capital of Shaanxi. The property is connected to an existing subway line and includes for-sale office, residential and retail space targeting the middle-income population segment. The investment was made with an existing Hong Kong–listed development partner and is the fund’s only investment to date.

Founded in 2002, CDH Investments is an international alternative asset fund manager that manages more than $12 billion of assets from more than 100 international and domestic institutional investors. During the past the past four years, the current real estate team has invested $541 million in 14 separate projects that have already returned 50 percent of capital, in aggregate, including a recent exit on a for-sale residential project in Beijing that reportedly generated a 29 percent gross internal rate of return.