PARIS-Axa Real Estate, the property investment arm of France's largest insurer, has raised $466 million for its Commercial Real Estate Senior 1 pan-European debt fund at first closing. The funds, raised from European insurance companies and Axa group, will supplement existing commitments for investment in real estate debt of $1.5 billion.

Isabelle Scemama, Axa RE head of debt commented: "This increases our total underwriting capacity to some $2 billion at a time when most banks have a very limited capacity to act. We see a clear opportunity to grow this market and believe that it eventually will follow the US example where around 20% of real estate transactions are underwritten by long-term investors such as insurance companies, leading to a far more liquid and transparent market in Europe." Axa RE has a further $1.3 billion already invested in real estate debt, giving it total global investment capacity into debt of $3.3 billion. It has been investing in European debt since 2005, but the bulk of its investments have been transacted since mid-2009. Axa RE has total assets under management of $52 billion.

CRE1, which has a capital target of around $1.3 billion, will provide senior loans directly or as a syndicate behind a bank and will focus on investments backed by good-quality income-producing properties. It will primarily target Euro-denominated investments, but will also seek exposure to sterling and Nordic currencies.