SCOR raises €260m for fifth real estate debt fund

SCOR Investment Partners has raised €260m (£224.7m) in commitments for its fifth value-add real estate debt strategy, with a target of €500m.

Fundraising for the vehicle, named SCOR Real Estate Loans V, is ongoing as it seeks capital to finance the renovation, restructuring, repositioning and development of real estate assets.

SCOR Group, the Paris-based reinsurer, is the anchor investor in the Article 9 fund under the European Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation. The fund has also attracted capital from both long-standing investors from previous vintages and new institutional backers, the firm said.

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“Investment volumes, in the real estate market, have started to increase again and, in our view, should continue to rise, supporting a strong pipeline of debt transactions,” said Pierre Saeli, head of real estate loans at SCOR Investment Partners. “In addition, the structural trend towards higher environmental, social, and governance standards across all assets represents a powerful investment driver for value-add strategies and is set to persist.”

The firm said the capital raised has already been deployed into projects across student housing, life sciences and office assets. In three of these transactions, SCOR Investment Partners acted as sole senior lender.

Over the past decade, SCOR Investment Partners’ real estate debt strategy has deployed €2.3bn across 91 transactions.

“Investors are returning to real estate, notably through debt strategies, which offer greater downside protection than equity,” said Alexandre Jaeglé, head of business development at SCOR Investment Partners. “In the current market environment, we anticipate running yields above 5 per cent on value-add real estate debt and IRR of around 6 per cent.”