Behringer Harvard, HCI Boost $1.3B Fund

AMSTERDAM-A US/German partnership with a $1.3-billion investment appetite for European real estate has acquired two more properties for the pool. Texas firm Behringer Harvard and overseas ally HCI Capital secured a pair of 75,000-sf office buildings situated near the Schiphol Airport, making the buy on behalf of the Behringer Harvard Strategic Opportunity Fund II LP. Behringer Harvard would not disclose the price to GlobeSt.com by deadline.

“These assets will allow our investors to diversify internationally by capitalizing on a superior location in the strong Amsterdam/Sloten submarket,” Behringer Harvard CEO Robert Behringer says in a release announcing the investment. HCI’s management expertise and local knowledge allow for “significant upside potential” of the 15-year-old structures, adds Behringer.

Based in Hamburg, HCI’s cross-border experience in Europe has enabled the firms to identify opportunities with development or value-added potential, Behringer Harvard principal Jason Mattox tells GlobeSt.com. “They are our eyes and ears on the ground in those markets, and we feel very confident in the acquisitions we have made with them,” says Mattox, whose firm had a previous relationship with HCI prior to launching the fund in late 2006.