Octopus Property

Octopus Property raises £230m for commercial real estate fund




Octopus Property has reached a final close of £230m for its commercial real estate debt fund II (CREDF II).

The specialist lender’s fund focuses on originating short-term loans secured by first charge against commercial property.

CREDF II was launched in September 2017, targeting a £200m final close with a hard cap of £230m.

The fund has accepted investor commitments from UK, European and Canadian pension funds.

Ludo Mackenzie, head of commercial property at Octopus Property and manager of the fund (pictured above), said it had seen significant demand from investors for this strategy.

“…As we enter a period of lower returns for commercial property, we believe CREDF II is well positioned to outperform most direct property funds.”

The fund aims to complete loans with a combined value in excess of £600m over the next three years, and in the six months since first close, it has already completed 19 commercial loans with a gross value of £105.4m.

“Despite increased interest in the fund, we have deliberately maintained a smaller fund size to allow us to deploy commitments more quickly and focus on the best deals for our investors,” added Ludo.

CREDF II is the latest in a number of institutional fundraises by Octopus, which increased its assets under management by over £500m in 2017.

The group now manages more than £1.8bn of institutional funds.

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