Gaw Capital Partners, a real estate private equity firm run by one of Hong Kong’s richest families, has achieved $3 billion in the final close of its latest flagship real estate fund for Asia Pacific, according to a statement on Friday.
The news comes after Gateway Real Estate Fund VII, the seventh instalment of its opportunistic real estate fund, announced the first close at $1.2 billion in November 2021. Similar to its predecessors in the same fund series, the vehicle will invest in office, retail, hospitality, industrial, Internet data centres, life science properties, as well as private credit and thematic platforms across the Asia-Pacific region, including Greater China, Japan, South Korea, Southeast Asia, and India.
Gaw Capital previously made private credit investments from its sixth fund in the series, and “it will work on more credit investments deals in Fund VII,” according to its spokesperson. Fund VI closed at the hard cap of $2.2 billion in 2019.
“The private credit deals which we have been active in for the last 24 months in the Asia region also offer attractive opportunities to institutional investors despite the current inflationary pressure, rising interest rates, and potential recession risks,” said Christina Gaw, Managing Principal, Global Head of Capital Markets, and Co-Chair of Alternative Investments at Gaw Capital Partners.
Gaw Capital has already started deploying capital out of commitments from the initial closing in 2021, including real estate-backed private credit investments in Hong Kong and Mainland China. Other investments include the acquisition of Hyatt Regency Hotel in Tokyo in partnership with KKR, which was announced in March; logistics portfolios in the Greater Tokyo area; an outlet mall in Guangzhou; and a life sciences park in Shanghai.
Limited partners of the fund include sovereign wealth funds, endowments, pension funds, as well as new and existing institutional investors of the series.
“Although market uncertainties remain, as history would have suggested, these challenging vintages, oftentimes, offer the best opportunities in hindsight. We remain optimistic about the post-pandemic real estate market and are well-positioned to seize opportunities that arise with dry powder amassed,” Gaw said in a statement.
Since its establishment in 2005, Gaw Capital has raised a total equity of $23 billion. The private equity firm has $36 billion in assets under management as of the first quarter of 2023.