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MORRISTOWN, NJ-Private real estate investment fund manager Hampshire Cos., which has amassed more than $1.5 billion in assets via its previous offerings, has launched Hampshire Partners Fund VII. The commingled, discretionary value-add real estate fund has already raised $350 million from 20 investors, including endowments, foundations and pension funds.

“Fund VII's investment strategy will focus on acquisition of properties in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic regions,” says James E. Hanson II, Hampshire's CEO and president, who notes that industrial, retail and suburban office properties will all be targets. “Within these markets, the goal is to materially enhance the properties' value through such activities as repositioning asset-level cash flows by upgrading rent rolls, upgrading existing facilities, expanding existing buildings, adaptive re-use and conducting pro-active value-added management and leasing.”