LOS ANGELES—Palisades Mexico Partners haslaunched the Palisades Private Capital Fund Itargeting foreign investors from Latin Americancountries. The fund in currently raising $50 million and plans toraise $100 million in commitments this year. The company is a jointventure between Palisades Capital Realty Advisorsand Sergio Arguelles, president and CEO of theMexican-based firm FINSA.

According to Joaquin de Monet, the founder andmanaging principal of Palisades Capital Realty Advisors, the fundaims to capitalize on the recent increase in liquidity in Mexicodue to the formation of Mexican REIT FIBRA. “FIBRAhas increased competition and compressed yields to a level thatimproves the attractiveness of US investments,” de Monet tellsGlobeSt.com. The ongoing conversation about foreign investors isusually focused on Asian investors, and European investors, to alesser extent. However, Latin American investors are also seekingUS real estate opportunities for “growth prospects in a developedeconomy, safety and a hedge against local currency.”

The fund will target class-A and class-B officeproperties in emerging West Coast markets. “Where we seepricing inefficiencies and attractive yields we acquire class-Aassets; otherwise we see a better value in class-B assets,especially suburban markets,” de Monet explains, adding that theirgoal is to create a pool of quality assets in the $12 million to$21 million range with an age of six to 30 years and 75% occupancy.The fund has already targeted three institutional-quality assets inTexas, Arizona and Southern California. They plan to purchase theseassets in the next month through the fund.