US developer and fund manager HDG Mansur is set to launch two property funds with an initial combined value of more than $1bn (£496m) to take advantage of the global property downturn.
The company, which owns and controls more than $2.5bn (£1.2bn) of property assets, is aiming to launch an open-ended global fund and a US residential fund.
The HDG Mansur Global Property Income Fund, to be launched this summer, will aim to raise initial equity of around $200m (£100m) from investors in the US, Europe and the Middle East.
The open-ended fund will be geared to between 60% and 70%, giving it around $650m (£325m) to spend in its initial stages.
HDG chief executive and chairman Harold Garrison said that the fund would then look to raise further equity of around $200m a year. He said it would initially invest in North America and Europe, and later on look to move into South East Asia.
The fund will be balanced, and look to provide returns of around 12%. ‘A year ago we wouldn’t have done this because prices were too expensive,’ Garrison said. ‘It was too frothy. Now we’re back to normality.’
The second fund, the HDG Mansur Opportunity Fund I will look to buy US residential schemes, typically comprising 1,000 to 2,000 acres, in the US sunbelt, which includes states such as Arizona and Florida.
It will be closed ended, and initially look to raise $100m (£50m), which will take it to $200m with gearing.
Further equity raisings over its nine-year lifespan could take it up to $800m. ‘As the economy comes out of a recession you want to be in these markets and you want to respond first,’ Garrison said.
