Bahrain’s Investcorp acquires 11 US properties for $370m

Bahraini investment firm Investcorp has acquired 11 new US multifamily properties for a combined purchase price of approximately $370m.

The acquisition of 2,615 units marks the company’s largest US real estate portfolio acquisition completed in the past decade, a statement said.

The properties are located in six major metro areas in which Investcorp has made previous acquisitions including Orlando and Tampa, Florida; Raleigh, North Carolina; Atlanta, Georgia; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; and, St. Louis, Missouri.

Investcorp has partnered with an affiliate of Equus Capital Partners, a Philadelphia-based vertically integrated real estate fund operator, for the transaction.

Equus’ management affiliate, Madison Apartment Group, will serve as the on-site property manager for the portfolio, the statement added.

“As one of the most active investors in US multifamily real estate, our real estate investment business continues to be an important driver of our ambitious long-term global growth strategy on the path to $50bn in AUM (assets under management),” said Mohammed Alardhi, executive chairman of Investcorp.

Over the last 12 months, Investcorp ranks as a top-10 buyer of US multifamily units according to Real Capital Analytics, having acquired approximately 7,700 units.

Since 1996, the company has acquired more than 600 total properties with a combined value of more than $16bn.

“We continue to see significant investment opportunities in US multifamily given it is a well-performing, highly liquid asset class that draws upon the current strength of the overall US economy and labour market,” said Michael Moriarty, principal in Real Estate Investment at Investcorp.

“Similar to many of our other recent multifamily investments, the assets in this portfolio are appealing because they are located in metro areas that are either key growth markets or population dense areas with new supply constraints. Each property offers strong existing occupancy levels and we believe also offers the opportunity for value-add renovations.”

As of December 31, 2018, Investcorp had $22.5bn in total AUM, including assets managed by third party managers.