KKR has closed on a $4.3 billion real estate fund primarily aimed at U.S. markets.
The fund, dubbed KKR Real Estate Partners Americas III, has won the backing of “a diverse group of new and existing global investors, including public pensions, sovereign wealth funds, insurance companies, family offices, high net worth individual investors and other institutional investors,” according to a press release from KKR.
The global investment company is building on the momentum of its previous fund, KKR Real Estate Partners Americas II, which completed fundraising in 2018 with capital commitments totaling $2 billion. As of September, the new fund had already committed more than $1 billion of capital.
KKR oversees more than $8 billion across three active regional funds.
Although KKR has not specifically identified senior housing as a real estate category to pursue with the newest fund, the company has worked in the senior living space since the founding of its real estate business in 2011. In 2019, KKR became the capital partner of Waltham, Massachusetts-based Benchmark. KKR was also involved in Sunrise Senior Living’s move from a public to a privately held company in 2013.
With regard to the kind of investments the fund will ultimately make, the firm is staying flexible, according to Justin Pattner, Head of Real Estate Equity in the Americas for KKR.
“We like to maintain flexibility around how we’re constructing that portfolio using a risk-based approach and we believe being nimble is important to the success of an opportunistic strategy in today’s market,” Pattner told PERE, a publication that covers private real estate markets.
The announcement from KKR comes on the heels of Harrison Street closing its eighth opportunistic fund at $2 billion. The company plans to dedicate about half the fund to senior housing and other to health care assets.
