Targeting total returns of between 12% and 14% per year over 10 years, the fund is aimed at institutional investors and has already attracted about Euro 200 million ($244.2 million) and more is expected to flow in as the equity raising continues. McArthurGlen CEO Joe Kaempfer tells GlobeSt.com that the existing equity, when leveraged, is enough to pay for the inaugural five-property acquisition, minus earnouts that are expected as the centers mature and are expanded, which Henderson has personally guaranteed.

Kaempfer estimates the fund will need to raise and leverage an additional Euro 100 million in equity to cover both the expected increase in value of the initial five properties and the additional properties that the fund has optioned. And if the fund ultimately wants to acquire everything McArthurGlen is working on outside the UK, it would need to leverage some Euro 400 million in equity, says Kaempfer.

Existing principal investors include: Mn Services NV, which manages pension funds for the Dutch engineering industry; Storebrand, and Oslo, Norway-based pension fund advisor; Munich-based Allianz, one of the world's largest insurers; Sparkassen-Versicherung Baden-Wuerttemberg AG, another Germany-based insurer, and; Luxembourg-based Tamweelview SA.

As part of the joint venture, McArthurGlen has been appointed for the life of the fund as property and asset managers for each of the centers. Originally, McArthurGlen was the largest developer of designer outlet shopping centers in the US before being merged with publicly traded Prime Retail Inc. Kaempfer, a Washington, DC office developer, acquired the McArthurGlen name from friend and company founder Alan Glen and brought the concept to Europe in 1993.

The company is now Europe's leading designer outlet developer and operator with 13 centers up and running--seven in the UK and six more in France, Austria, Holland and Italy--for a combined three million sf of lettable area. The centers draw a combined 40 million visitors each year.

Instant Insights /

Henderson Launching Europe's First Outlet Mall Fund

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