UK property company Grosvenor and Italy’s Generali Real Estate have launched a residential private debt finance co-investment strategy.
Generali Real Estate, which has €38.7bn of assets, and private company Grosvenor said the partnership would target a ‘broad range of housing tenures with a focus on sustainable schemes in London and the UK’s regional cities.
Its first loan will support Aitch Group develop 65 homes near Canary Wharf, London.
The move is being seen as a developmemt on Grosvenor’s new £120 mln residential debt strategy launched in April 2023 and on Generali Real Estate’s debt strategy launched in July 2019 and now at its second fund vintage with a pan-EU platform managing around €2 bn.
Both are seeding the partnership with an initial £50 mln and will be characterized by a ‘pari-passu’ co-investment strategy.
Generali Real Estate and Grosvenor will look to address the shortage of funding available from traditional lenders by providing loans of up to £60 mln for residential projects of all types and tenures, with a focus on schemes with strong environmental credentials in London and the UK’s regional cities.
Generali Real Estate, with its €1bn target size Generali Real Estate Debt Fund II, targets to build a well-diversified and resilient investment portfolio, aiming to invests across Europe includoing the UK, and across different asset classes.
Rachel Dickie, executive director of investment, Grosvenor Property UK, said: ‘This new partnership enables us to ramp up our lending activity, combining our capital and knowledge of the UK housing market to back the delivery of new homes – be that for sale, for rent, later living or student accommodation.’
Stefano Lombardo, head of CRE Debt Portfolio Construction, Generali Real Estate, added: ‘We are glad to announce this first transaction closing within the context of a strategic partnership with a renowned real estate player such as Grosvenor. The partnership is key for us to further enlarge our debt investment strategy in the UK, which we consider one of our focus countries.’
