Canadian pension giant OMERS is poised to close the first loan under its new real estate lending strategy in Europe.
The lending business will be managed by Oxford Properties, the international property arm of OMERS Group.
Oxford Properties will likely target internal rates of return of 7-10% on debt investments in line with its property equity investing.
Joanne McNamara, European finance director at Oxford Properties, said: ‘We’ve got a $2 bn debt book in the US and we’ve looked at trying to bring that over to Europe. We have looked at a number of deals and, fingers crossed, will be doing something in the UK in the next few weeks.’
McNamara, who is leading the European debt initiative with Lee Coward, also in the London-based finance team, said the group had been looking closely at the opportunities for the past 12 months.
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