Real estate investor, developer and manager, Hines has secured over €1 billion of equity commitments for its Hines European Property Partners fund (“HEPP” or “the fund”).
The figure was reached in July 2024 following an acceleration of commitments from existing and new partners over the last quarter, illustrating both renewed confidence in the market and conviction in Hines’ track record of executing its fund strategies.
Fund Manager Jorge Duarte, who has spearheaded its growth since joining Hines to launch and run HEPP in 2022, said: “We have taken advantage of the shift in market conditions in Europe and tactically deployed significant capital over the last 12 months. Investors can see how the portfolio has been assembled so far, and that coming into the fund now means not only a short path to deployment but also gaining exposure to what are expected to be the best-performing asset classes over the coming years. They also recognize what is likely to be the best investment conditions for a core plus real estate fund since the ’Great Financial Crisis’ in 2008.
“We see no sign of this investor demand for the fund abating over the next 12 months. Our fundamental approach of acquiring attractively priced, income-producing assets throughout Europe, where we can seek to add value over time through Hines’ proactive asset management and a focus on ESG, makes HEPP well-positioned to outperform in current market conditions, which we expect to become the new normal.”
HEPP is Hines’ European flagship core-plus fund, a diversified open-ended, research-driven vehicle targeting strong risk-adjusted returns through superior asset selection and active management. Since launching in 2022, HEPP has attracted commitments from partners including major institutional investors and pension funds worldwide.
The fund focuses on good quality, substantially stabilised assets in key European markets with growth potential, combining Hines’ proprietary research framework with its execution platform to create a high-quality, income-producing portfolio. The HEPP investment strategy targets the major asset classes of industrial, living, retail and office sectors, in addition to emerging sectors such as data centres and senior living.
Demonstrating the diversity of the portfolio, recent acquisitions for HEPP include the forward funding of the largest multifamily residential development for rent in Newcastle, a 260-bed purpose-built student development in Bristol, Hines’ first asset in Sweden (a logistics warehouse), and a solar-powered logistics warehouse in Italy. The strategy maximizes value at the asset level through active management, also provided by Hines through its Management Services division.
HEPP sits within a family of core-plus funds: Hines U.S. Property Partners (HUSPP) and Hines Asia Property Partners (HAPP), providing investors with regionally targeted, diversified, open-ended core-plus funds using the same combination of strong local teams and tailored investment strategies to suit relevant sub-markets. HUSPP and HAPP, both of which launched in 2021, together with HEPP, have secured over $3.5 billion as of July 2024 in combined commitments for the open-ended core-plus funds.
HEPP complements Hines’ existing European funds, the Hines European Core Fund (HECF), the firm’s open-ended core flagship vehicle, and the Hines European Real Estate Partners series, (HEREP III and HEVF1 and HEVF2) its close-ended value add counterpart, which are now closed to new investors.
