Fir Tree Partners Raises $628 Million for Real Estate Opportunity Fund II

NEW YORK, Nov. 8, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Fir Tree Partners, a private investment firm with approximately $7 billion of capital under management, recently announced the final close of its Real Estate Opportunity Fund II ("Fund II"), with $628 million of committed capital, exceeding its original target of $500 million.  

Fir Tree's first real estate opportunity fund was formed in 2008 to provide the Firm's existing investors with more concentrated real estate exposure.  Fund II seeks to create a strategic advantage for existing and new Fir Tree investors through a broad investment mandate across capital structures in both the commercial and residential real estate markets. 

James Walker III, a Managing Partner at Fir Tree and co-founder of the firm's real estate funds, stated: "The volatile capital markets continue to change the opportunity set.  Our flexible mandate empowers us to benefit from these changes and is bolstered by patient capital, firm expertise, and the ability to target both public and private investments."  

Fir Tree primarily pursues an activist strategy in real estate, creating value through workouts, restructurings and operational improvements.

"Last year, we found compelling opportunities to restructure real estate companies; this year, acquiring defaulted first mortgages has been an attractive way to craft a historically cheap basis in assets we'd like to own," said Jarret Cohen, Head of Private Real Estate at Fir Tree.  

The firm's real estate funds seek to uncover scalable themes that offer downside protection and are less reliant on improvements in asset values or operating fundamentals.  Fir Tree has historically focused its real estate efforts on areas largely ignored by the more traditional institutional investor universe, often through senior positions in misunderstood or out-of-favor sectors.  Fund II is more than 90% invested in a variety of loans, real assets and securities.  

About Fir Tree Partners

Fir Tree Partners, founded in 1994 and located in New York, NY (HQ) and Miami, FL, is a private investment firm, which manages approximately $7 billion of assets on behalf of leading endowments, foundations, public and private pension funds and other institutional and private investors.  Fir Tree invests worldwide in public and private companies and real estate across a wide variety of sectors and securities.

SOURCE Fir Tree Partners