CHICAGO—90 North Real Estate Partners, a London-based, international real estate investment firm, has just expanded into North America by opening a Chicago office and appointing Daniel T. Cooper, a 25-year real estate veteran, to run it. Company officials say they plan to invest $750 million, mostly in the US, during the next 18 to 24 months.

“Our clients want and need real estate in the US,” Nicholas Judd, a founder, partner and head of investment, tells GlobeSt.com. The company has a lot of investors from the Middle East and “they are hunting for yield.” 90 North was started in London in 2011 and has made about $750 million in investments buying office, industrial, senior living, and student housing properties throughout the UK. “Our clients are very keen on the US and UK economies.”

Both Judd and Cooper say locating the North American office in Chicago was a natural choice. Judd, for example, says Chicago's access to banking and finance is as good as New York's. And Chicago's central location gives it quicker access to most US cities, an important consideration for a company building a national portfolio. “When we looked at all of the variables,” Cooper says, “Chicago came up number one.”