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Opening coincides with appointment of regional head and DFSA authorisation
London – M7 Real Estate (“M7”), the pan-European investor and asset manager which is owned by Oxford Properties, announces that it has opened its first office in the Middle East to capitalise on the continued strong demand for high quality European real estate from investors in the region.
The opening of the new office in the Dubai International Financial Centre (“DIFC”), a leading global financial centre in the Middle East and Africa, follows M7’s1 receipt of financial services authorisation from the Dubai Financial Services Authority (“DFSA”) last month. M7 has also appointed Zaid Al Rawi, Managing Director for M7 Middle East & North Africa, to head up the office.
By extending its reach through a permanent office in the region, M7’s immediate focus will be on growing its capital raising function and expanding existing investor relationships across the MENA region. M7 already manages around €1bn of European real estate on behalf of Middle Eastern investors, representing approximately 20% of the firm’s assets under management. Existing clients have included sovereign wealth funds and separate account mandates, such as the joint venture it announced with Kamco Invest in 2020.
The new office, coupled with the DFSA licence, also provide M7 with a platform to extend its capital raising to a broader universe of Middle Eastern investors that are actively seeking investments in U.K. and European real estate.
Including the UAE, M7 now has offices in 15 countries and territories and this latest market entry is in line with its ambitions to continue expanding globally following its acquisition by Oxford Properties last year. The acquisition provided M7 with the support and resources of a significant global real estate investor with similar ambitions to grow both geographically and in terms of M7’s third-party capital under management. At the same time M7’s platform presented Oxford Properties with a platform through which to source opportunities to deploy capital for its investment partners.
M7 invests across a variety of multi-tenanted asset classes in Europe. It was originally formed in 2009 as a specialist in light industrial and urban logistics, which remains its largest sector and, together with retail warehouses, accounts for more than half the €5.8 billion of assets currently under management.
Richard Croft, Executive Chairman of M7 Real Estate, commented: “Since founding M7 in 2009 we have always placed great importance on having a local presence and Dubai, as a world leading financial centre and a primary gateway to accessing Middle Eastern capital, has always been a target market for us. While we already have a strong track record of investing into Europe on behalf of select Middle Eastern clients, the opening of our U.A.E office and the granting of our DFSA licence will allow us to both access new types of investors to grow our investor base and better service our existing clients. The Dubai office also sees us make another significant step forward in M7’s own ambitions, supported by our colleagues at Oxford Properties, to create a market leading international investment and asset management platform.”
Zaid Al Rawi, Managing Director for M7 Middle East & North Africa, commented: “The current market environment is propelling investors in the Middle East to focus on higher quality investments and those with more visible cash flows. Strategies or asset classes which have performed in recent times may not necessarily continue to do so. Hence, innovation and discipline will be paramount in preserving and growing capital. In that context, it is even more important than usual that we remain close to our clients and to reflect the unique requirements of investors in the region.”
1 DFSA authority given to M7 Real Estate Financial Services Ltd a wholly owned subsidiary of M7 Real Estate
For more information, please contact:
Richard Sunderland / Eve Kirmatzis / Oliver Parsons, FTI Consulting
About M7 Real Estate
M7 Real Estate Ltd is a pan-European investor and asset manager specialised in multi-tenanted real estate. M7’s team consists of over 225 staff operating across a platform spanning 15 countries and territories comprising the UK, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Hungary, Hong Kong, Ireland, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Spain and the UAE.
Established in 2009, M7 manages a portfolio of c. 580 assets comprising 47.3 million sq ft of GLA with a capital value of circa €5.8 billion. As at 31 August 2022, the M7 Group had realised a cumulative net internal rate of return of 23 per cent. (post fees and taxes) and an equity multiple of 1.8x on over €2.55 billion of assets held across 17 fully exited joint ventures and funds.
M7 acts as an investment and asset manager to a series of funds that it has established and in which it co-invests alongside a large number of family office, high net worth and institutional investors. It is also appointed Investment Advisor to Alternative Income REIT, a UK listed property company and is the asset manager and AIFM for Mailbox REIT and M7 Regional E-Warehouse REIT which are both listed on IPSX. In addition, M7 also has a number of separate account mandates where it acts as a third-party asset manager for the portfolios of institutional, family office and high net worth investors including M&G Investments. M7 also enters into joint ventures and currently has them with private equity firms including Blackstone.
Additional information about M7 can be found at www.m7re.eu.
About Oxford Properties Group
Oxford Properties Group (“Oxford”) is a leading global real estate investor, asset manager and business builder. It builds, buys, and grows defined real estate operating businesses with world-class management teams. Established in 1960, Oxford and its portfolio companies manage approximately C$80 billion of assets across four continents on behalf of their investment partners. Oxford’s owned portfolio encompasses office, logistics, retail, multifamily residential, life sciences, hotels and credit in global gateway cities and high-growth hubs. A thematic investor with a committed source of capital, Oxford invests in properties, portfolios, development sites, debt, securities and real estate businesses across the risk-reward spectrum. Together with its portfolio companies, Oxford is one of the world’s most active developers with over 100 projects currently underway globally across all major asset classes. Oxford is owned by OMERS, the Canadian defined benefit pension plan for Ontario's municipal employees.
For more information on Oxford, visit www.oxfordproperties.com.
