The real estate platform formerly known as EQT Exeter has exited the U.S. multifamily market.
Swedish investment giant EQT shuttered its multifamily fund, PERE reported. The disclosure came in the company’s year-end release for 2024.
The private equity firm owns 34 multifamily properties in the country, according to CoStar, totaling nearly 10,000 units across the portfolio. But it hasn’t made any acquisitions in the sector in the United States since 2022.
Chief financial officer Kim Henriksson cited the “challenging fundraising market” as the rationale for discontinuing the multifamily fund. The company took an $83.5 million hit on the move. It also laid off an undisclosed number of employees in the U.S.
In addition to the multifamily withdrawal, EQT is also hitting pause on office and life sciences investments. The EQT Real Estate platform will instead focus its attention on industrial real estate, which was almost entirely where EQT Exeter was allocated when Exeter Property Group was sold to EQT.
It’s still a quick pivot for EQT, which seemed to be making a big move in the multifamily sector less than three years ago. In May 2022, EQT acquired Chicago-based Redwood Capital. At the time, then-EQT Exeter global head Ward Fitzgerald hailed the move as a “crucial step in our growth.”
Today, Redwood’s website is dormant and the profiles of top executives no longer appear on the EQT website. Henry Steinberg was promoted to Fitzgerald’s position in September after Fitzgerald decided to step down following 20 years with Exeter.
Since the start of last year, EQT has spent more than $4.4 billion on industrial properties in the United States, according to CoStar, emerging as one of the top logistics players in the nation.
In August, EQT paid $151 million for six industrial properties in the Greater Phoenix area.
Read more
Chicago’s Redwood bought by Swedish investor eyeing multifamily market
EQT Exeter buys six industrial buildings in Phoenix market for $151M
EQT Exeter pays $15M for Doral warehouse and office building
