In “KKR Fires Up Strategy to Hold Real Estate in ’40 Act Fund,” Tom Stabile explores the unique structure of the KKR Real Estate Select Trust for FundFire Alts. This fund is the second of its kind, after Clarion Partners created the Clarion Partners Real Estate Income Fund (described in more detail here). It combines the structure of a closed-end tender offer fund with the tax status of a REIT by investing at least 80% of its net assets in real estate while still offering investors periodic liquidity.
Kimberly Flynn, XA Investments Managing Director of Alternative Investments, contributes to the article by describing the broader impact this hybrid fund structure may have on the closed-end fund market, particularly with respect to real assets and other illiquid alternatives. “This is a broadening of the types of assets closed-end funds can hold, and it’s consistent with the regulators’ goal of making [alternative investments] more accessible,” she explains. “The closed-end funds that exist today just invest in listed stocks of infrastructure, but that’s not what Harvard Management Company buys. That’s why there has generally been this disillusionment with alts because [advisors] felt they were given a substitute but not access to the real thing.”
Flynn also notes that KKR’s large size will be instrumental in achieving the fund’s success by allowing it to invest in a diverse portfolio of real estate holdings. “You have to know and have the ability and confidence you can raise the capital quickly and then deploy it quickly,” she says. “You can’t have two investments that are 100% of the assets of a fund. That’s why this [new structure] will be appealing to the larger managers.”
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