US PineBridge buys European fund manager Benson Elliot

Greg Ehret (L) and Marc Mogull.

UK-based private equity property fund manager Benson Elliot Capital Management has been sold to New York-headquartered PineBridge Investments.

Benson Elliot, founded in 2005, manages over US$3.5 billion of equity. Its portfolio includes offices, retail, hotel and residential assets in UK, Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Belgium and Poland. The firm’s entire team of 40 professionals will join PineBridge.

Benson Elliot has launched four European funds, the most recent of which, Benson Elliot Real Estate Partners V, closed in 2019 at €836 million. Meanwhile, Benson Elliot Real Estate Partners IV, has already realised over half of its invested capital.

Marc Mogull, executive chairman and chief investment officer at Benson Elliot, said the firm’s leadership team undertook a strategic review, “to explore how we could build on 15 years of success at Benson Elliot. We wanted to ensure that our organization would remain at the forefront of private equity real estate investing in a changing market environment.”

Greg Ehret, CEO of PineBridge, said: “Real estate is a strategically important asset class for institutional investors, such as pension funds and insurance companies, who are looking to meet their long-term investment objectives, especially during a period of low real interest rates. Benson Elliot’s industry-leading expertise in European real estate will complement and diversify our firm’s investment offering allowing us to best serve our global client base.”

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