Ray White’s burgeoning property funds management arm will target financial planners in an effort to swell its capital base.
“We have had limited involvement with the planner market and will hopefully change that over time,” Ray White Invest chief executive Dan White said.
White, an ex-Macquarie Group property executive, is part of the four-generation White family that began to invest its private capital in 2001 through joint ventures with property developers.
Ray White Invest has about $300 million in funds under management in around 12 closed-ended wholesale funds.
The majority of these are individual syndicates with a single asset bought with capital from around 200 sophisticated investors along with bank lenders.
‘It’s a small community, the property market, and our family has always had strong relationships,” White said.
“We have developed into the genuine funds space in the last 12 months and we hope to grow into that.”
The firm’s Priority Access Fund One (PAF 1) raised $30 million from 65 investors last year, of which about 70 per cent were self-managed super funds. Priority Access Fund Two raised $15 million, $5 million short of the $20 million target.
Priority Access Fund Three will be launched next month with a capital raising target of between $100 million to $150 million.
“That’s our target and we’ve got to work out how we’re going to get there,” White said.
Some planners, particularly in south-east Queensland, have had clients invest in the PAF funds directly.
“Our products appeal to the high-net-worth wholesale investor,” White said.
“The independent planners, etc., have clients in that category. We think planners can offer something not broadly advertised in the market. It’s not something that at the moment would suit platforms.”
Last month the company and retail developer Blair Group entered into a joint venture to buy the Currambine Marketplace in Perth from Woolworths for around $50 million.
