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Press Releases

Second Moorfield fund closes with £1. 6 bn of buying power

Group announces five new appointments as MREF II successfully completes its second and final close

Moorfield Group (Moorfield) has successfully completed the second close of its second fund.  Moorfield Real Estate Fund II (MREF II) has raised approximately £400m in equity, reaching the maximum amount Moorfield was targeting.

With gearing, the opportunistic real estate fund will have buying power of around £1.6bn, and will pursue multiple asset types across the entire UK market. 

The fund, which was launched in October last year, will create value through active corporate, asset and financial management, and is targeting returns in the high ‘teens’.  It will consider both real estate and real estate-related opportunities, including shares and derivatives, and both direct acquisitions and acquisitions of asset-backed companies.

The new fund has an eight-year lifespan with an option to extend by two years, and a three-year investment period with an option to extend by one year.

Like its predecessor, MREF, the fund is backed principally by blue-chip US endowment and foundation funds and European pension funds, the majority of which are repeat investors.  The first fund is now fully committed, having invested over £1bn in a diverse range of UK assets, including 65 hotels, 3 shopping centres and 2 student accommodation developments.

In tandem with the second fund closing, Moorfield Group has announced a number of new appointments across its property, corporate and development divisions.

In total, the company has made five senior appointments as a result of organic growth across the business.

Shane Harris has been appointed as a direct result of the operational businesses acquired through Moorfield’s first fund, and is responsible for overseeing hotels, leisure and other related assets.  Formerly, Shane worked for Grand Metropolitan PLC and Bass PLC and was Managing Director of Holiday Inn Express Hotels, Europe, growing the business from zero to over 140 hotels within 6 years. He has also worked with a number of private equity firms to purchase hotel groups ranging in value from £100 million to £1 billion.

Within the development division, Moorfield has recruited Niall Southwell, a Chartered Surveyor, who was previously a Project Manager for Simons Developments specialising in town centre retail and mixed use schemes. 

Moorfield’s property origination division has been expanded with the addition of opportunity originator and analyst Robin Matthews. Robin is a former Goldman Sachs gilts analyst and Associate Director at Colliers CRE. Qualified solicitor Sadie Chave joins from Clifford Chance, where she advised private equity houses on acquisitions and disposals.  At Moorfield, Sadie will work within the corporate acquisition, origination, analysis team as well as being responsible for in-house legal advice.

Emma Crowley joins Moorfield from Jones Lang LaSalle where she was a national director within the planning division. At Moorfield she will be responsible for all planning and related issues.

Speaking about the appointments, Marc Gilbard, Chief executive of Moorfield Group commented: “We are all very excited by both our successful fund raising of MREF II and by the quality of the individuals that we have appointed to key positions.”

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