Investors and fund managers have switched their focus away from raising capital to dealing with issues in existing investments, according to two studies from INREV.
Last year, fund managers raised €10.2bn, compared with €19bn in 2007, a drop of 48%. Fund managers also said they expected to raise less money next year, despite the fact that they were beginning to see opportunities in the real estate market.
INREV suggested this was due to a change of focus, as fund managers focused on fixing issues in existing funds.
A separate INREV debt study found that 53% of investors and fund of fund managers said they were ‘very concerned’ that funds would breach their debt covenants, particularly those set up in 2006 and 2007.
Russell Chaplin, co-chair of the INREV research committee and global strategist for UBS Asset Management, said: ‘If you combine the debt study results with those of the capital raising survey for 2009, you can see that investors have identified that the vintages of funds that are likely to cause most concern are from 2006 and 2007 when peak levels of capital flowed to non-listed real estate vehicles and when the propensity to use debt was high.’
The study also showed that one third of investors and half of fund of fund managers who had been asked to commit fresh equity had turned down that request.
Refinancing is also set to be a major issue, with one fifth of funds facing some kind of refinancing over the next 12 months.
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