First Eagle Investments has launched a real estate debt fund that invests across private and public credit opportunities.
The First Eagle Real Estate Debt Fund is managed by Napier Park Global Capital, which First Eagle acquired in 2022.
The interval fund’s focus is on short-duration assets across residential real estate lending markets, that it says provides access to a range of credit opportunities that are not typically available to retail investors.
Read more: First Eagle launches private credit fund with iCapital
On the private credit side, the fund will invest in residential transitional loans – akin to bridging loans – and land-banking transactions, which provide finance to homebuilders to manage land inventory for new-home development.
And within public credit, the fund will invest in structured credit securities backed by pools of underlying mortgage loans.
The fund is structured as a closed-end interval fund and will be taxed as a real estate investment trust to provide investors with favourable tax treatment.
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“We believe that long-term secular drivers such as demographic tailwinds, a persistent housing supply shortage and the ongoing need for financing present a strong, differentiated opportunity in the residential real estate market,” said Rajesh Agarwal, portfolio manager of the real estate debt fund.
“Recognising the regulatory headwinds facing conventional lenders that historically served this space, we see a durable opportunity for alternative credit firms like ourselves to provide much-needed capital to the residential real estate market and potentially generate attractive risk-adjusted returns and current income for our investors.”
The Real Estate Debt Fund is First Eagle’s third interval fund and the first managed by Napier Park.
New York-headquartered First Eagle has around $152bn (£112.3bn) in assets under management.
Read more: Blackstone to sell First Eagle Investment Management
