Switzerland: Limestone Capital has launched a fund to capitalise on opportunities in the European real estate and hospitality sectors.
The fund will acquire real estate at “attractive prices”, as well as capitalising on “the shift to sustainable, healthy and more intimate travel experiences”.
The firm is expected to raise around €50 million (£45.7 million), with total assets under management to be around €150 million including direct investor contributions.
Limestone Capital is a private partnership between real estate investors and technology entrepreneurs, and is a joint platform between a number of family offices, including Apeiron Investments in London and the chief executive’s family office, Alex Schütz Family Office in Vienna. It was founded by chief executive Alexander Schütz, with Christian Angermayer, Benjamin Habbel and Jeffrey Coe.
It has a pipeline of investment opportunities in key markets, including Rome and Mallorca. The firm has already invested in Aethos Hotels, as well as acquiring three assets in Portugal including a city centre hotel asset as well as a luxury surf hotel.
Benjamin Habbel, managing partner, said: “The unique insight to apply a fully integrated investment strategy, has allowed for projects often overseen by large institutions due to their lack of sector knowledge, whilst at the same time being too capital intense for local entrepreneurs. This way we are beginning to build a portfolio of real estate investments that promise to deliver strong risk adjusted returns through a lean asset management approach, conservative leverage and technology-enabled operations.”
Alexander Schütz, general partner, said: “With highly attractive entry level prices, due to Covid-19 forcing distressed asset sales, and operating assets generating cashflow quickly delivering liquidity for investors, we are confident that we have launched a firm with a highly attractive and sustainable portfolio of investments. Moreover, we believe our investors will benefit from first-class implementation from our team of real estate and technology specialists, working with excellent hand-picked management teams.”
