Peakhill Capital and Declaration Partners have launched a joint venture that will make preferred equity investments across the U.S., Green Street News can reveal.
Toronto-based Peakhill aims to deploy US$300m over the next 12 months, targeting opportunities from US$5m to US$25m on multifamily, student-housing and build-for-rent properties in the top 50 metropolitan statistical areas. It also will consider investing in late-stage development projects.
The venture is looking to work with multifamily owners whose lenders are requiring loan paydowns, or who are considering recapitalizations because of falling property values and stubbornly high interest rates. The investments would be behind senior debt such as agency, life company and CMBS loans.
“Declaration and Peakhill can provide friendly ‘gap capital’ to assist those owners in successfully recapitalizing their properties,” said Todd Rich, co-founder of Declaration Partners and head of the real estate team. “We believe that Peakhill’s sourcing and servicing abilities coupled with Declaration’s capital and expertise will provide a competitive advantage.”
Peakhill said the partnership will boost its presence in the multifamily sector, allowing it to offer customized financing solutions and scale operations. The venture won’t use leverage.
“Partnering with Declaration Partners perfectly complements Peakhill, and will help us extend our reach in the multifamily high-yield segment,” said Sandor Biderman, managing director of Peakhill Capital U.S. “This collaboration aligns with our vision and strengthens our ability to deliver innovative financing solutions.”
Peakhill is a commercial real estate lender with US$10bn of assets. Declaration, based in New York, is a private investment firm anchored by the family office of David Rubenstein, with US$2.2bn of assets under management.