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GlobeSt.com - Rubenstein Fund Joins Larger Umbrella - May 24, 2006
PHILADELPHIA-The $475-million Rubenstein Properties Fund LP is targeting office properties, primarily in CBDs and their surrounding suburbs throughout the Eastern time zone. Through its affiliations, however, it can move to other parts of the country and also take on larger transactions, such as mixed-use complexes for redevelopment, releasing and repositioning.
The fund is the first from Rubenstein Partners. David Rubenstein, former president and CEO of Rubenstein Co., and principals of that company formed this partnership following Plymouth Meeting based Brandywine Realty Trusts' $600-million acquisition of Rubenstein Co. in fall 2004. Eric Schiela, COO of Rubenstein Partners, tells GlobeSt.com it is one of seven independently owned and operated private equity funds that fall under the umbrella of Independence Capital Partners. All are co-located here at Cira Centre, "which allows us to share back-office services and also cross-pollinate ideas and expertise."
Dean Adler and Ira Lubert, who head Lubert-Adler Real Estate, are among the fund's sponsors, and their firm is also a member of Independence Capital. They along with David Rubenstein and other members of senior management have committed $25 million to the fund whose contributors are primarily educational endowments along with select corporate pension funds and high net worth individuals. The opening fund exceeded its initial target of $400 million.
Rubenstein Partners' area of expertise is in the office sector and its sights are set primarily on Boston; Central and Northern New Jersey; Philadelphia; Wilmington, DE; Baltimore, MD; suburban Maryland; Washington DC; Northern Virginia, Atlanta and Southeast Florida. "If the right opportunity came along outside the East, say Nashville or Indianapolis, we'd be interested," Schiela says. "We're not focusing on macro pictures, but are an opportunity-by-opportunity driven investor."
Specifically, he says, "We're looking for larger, more complicated transactions, from bricks and sticks to properties that require redevelopment, releasing or repositioning. Nothing is too small, and there's really no maximum we can spend. In mixed-use, for example, we'd handle the office component and bring in others, such as Lubert-Adler, for the retail part."
Other members of Independence Capital, in addition to Lubert-Adler and Rubenstein are Quaker BioVentures, LLR Partners, LEM Mezzanine, Chrysalis Capital Partners and LBC Credit Partners. Together, the seven companies have approximately $6 billion of capital under management.
CPN - Rubenstein Partners Closes First Office Real Estate Fund of $475M - May 23, 2006
Rubenstein Partners has closed its initial value-added office real estate fund, Rubenstein Properties Fund L,P., at $475 million in committed equity. That exceeded its initial target of $400 million.
The fund is Rubenstein Partners' first foray into the private real estate equity markets. Plans for the fund are to focus on value-added office investments, primarily in the Eastern United States, although it also has the mandate to invest throughout the entire United States for certain select opportunities in conjunction with sister company Independence Capital Partners. The funds are intended to include investments in mixed-use complexes, mezzanine debt and corporate headquarters buildings.
Rubenstein Properties Fund L.P.'s investors are primarily educational endowments but also include some corporate pension funds and high-net-worth individuals. The fund will be managed by David Rubenstein, the firm's senior managing principal.
According to Eric Schiela, vice president & chief operating officer of Rubenstein Partners, the fund is concentrating on value-added office investments in the Eastern United States, continuing the strategy of The Rubenstein Co. "Rubenstein Partners is a reincarnation of the management team of The Rubenstein Co. L.P., which had a similar strategy of value-added office on the East Coast but previously had been a little more centralized in the Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Northern Virginia areas." Schiela told CPN. "So we're taking that a little bit further but still certainly within what we think is a manageable geographic radius."
The fund will focus on larger or more complicated transactions, specifically those that require development or redevelopment or complex recapitalization. In addition, the fund will focus on assets located in central business districts and surrounding suburban markets.
