Dutch pension fund manager APG has backed a European value-add hotel fund managed by Madrid-based real estate manager , according to sources.
Azora said it has exceeded an initial €600m fundraising target for its newly launched Azora European Hotel & Lodging (Azora EH&L) fund to raise €680m.
The Azora EH&L fund has a €750m hard cap target, which when achieved together with leverage, will give the fund more than €1.5bn of investment firepower.
The initial capital raised was committed “throughout the lockdown period and demonstrate investors’ continued confidence in both the long-term performance of the tourism industry despite the impact of COVID-19�, the manager said.
Azora said the fund received capital commitments from an unnamed group of global investors, including one of Europe’s largest pension fund investors, non-European sovereign wealth funds, and a large global institutional investor.
Âé¶¹Ó³» Real Assets understands that the APG, as one of the investors, has committed an undisclosed amount to the fund.
Investors will also have the option to provide co-investment capital alongside their commitments, further expanding the investment capacity of the fund, Azora said.
The Azora EH&L fund will focus on the “sun & beach� segment across Europe’s top tourist destinations as well as urban lodgings.
Azora said it has already secured a portfolio of 10 hotels comprising seven assets on the mainland Spanish coast, two in Ibiza and a single asset in Sicily.
Concha Osácar, Azora’s founding partner, said the level of commitments achieved so far for the fund underscores the international investor community’s confidence in �both our ability as a manager to create value and in the ongoing potential of the European hospitality industry as an institutional asset class, regardless of the short term impact of the COVID crisis�.
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