MANAMA: Investcorp, a leading global alternative investment firm headquartered in Bahrain, announced that its New York-based real estate team took part in nearly $4 billion in deals last year, including both buying and disposition activity.
The group acquired more than 200 properties in 2021 valued at approximately $2.5bn and sold approximately $1.5bn.
Investcorp narrowed its strategic focus to residential and industrial property types in 2014, which currently represent approximately 95 per cent of the firm’s US real estate portfolio.
While the Covid-19 pandemic continued to provide a source of uncertainty in real estate markets, it created opportunities in these sectors and helped drive the firm’s momentum as a highly active buyer and seller.
The key highlights and achievements of Investcorp for 2021 are:
•Invested $1bn of clients’ capital in US real estate.
•Expanded US industrial holdings to approximately $3.5bn across approximately 32 million sqft, comprised of more than 425 buildings.
•Grew US residential assets to nearly $4.1bn across approximately 18,000 multifamily units and 2,700 student housing beds.
•Established a new venture with two leading sovereign wealth funds to acquire industrial real estate assets in the US.
•Appointed Michelle Felman and Patrice Derrington in 2021 and Jerry Davis in 2022 as advisory directors to the real estate group.
On the record sales, executive chairman Mohammed Alardhi said: “The record level of activity within our North American real estate business in 2021 has created many opportunities to help drive Investcorp’s growth and retain its position as a top cross-border real estate buyer and seller in the US.”
“Long before the pandemic, we perceived residential and industrial real estate investments to be one of the most recession-proof sectors, and this strategy has proven to be attractive given business and lifestyle changes, many of which were accelerated because of Covid-19. I look forward to seeing the continued growth of our platform in a key market for us,” noted Mr Alardhi.
The firm’s strategy remains targeted towards core-plus and light-value-add real estate investments that it believes can generate strong cash flows with high occupancies in markets underpinned by solid economic fundamentals.
“We’ve long recognised the US residential and industrial sectors as some of the most resilient areas of the market, and we’re pleased to see our conviction continue to generate compelling opportunities for our clients,” said Herb Myers, co-head of real rstate, North America.
Michael O’Brien, co-head of real estate, North America, said: “While we entered 2021 acutely aware of the short and long-term changes Covid-19 could have on the real estate market, we’ve seen strong macroeconomic tailwinds inspiring continued optimism in these sectors.”
“We remain bullish heading into 2022 and look forward to continuing to grow our platform,” he added.
Since 1996, Investcorp has acquired more than 1,100 properties for a total value of approximately $23bn. According to Real Capital Analytics, Investcorp is among the top-10 largest cross-border buyers and sellers of US real estate over the past three years.
&uuid=(email))