Curzon Global Partners and AEW Europe have completed their largest ever equity raise.

The partners announced today they had raised €800m (£630m) for a value-added fund aimed at investing in ‘opportunities arising from the current dislocation in European real estate markets, economies and global capital markets.’

The money was raised principally from existing institutional investors, including German, Dutch and Nordic investors as well as US pension funds.

‘ “The Great Exchange,” is just getting underway in European real estate markets,’ said Ric Lewis, chief executive of Curzon Global Partners and chief investment officer for AEW Europe: ‘Companies, hedge funds, governments and private investors are sitting on a vast array of real estate waiting to be divested from their balance sheets,’ he added.

The new fund will purchase assets deriving from: ‘broken initial public offerings, resource-constrained owners, operators or fund sponsors of real estate assets, distressed property assets and situations, as well as direct property with value-added potential.’