September 29, 2016HENDERSON PARK LAUNCHES HAVING RAISED OVER $500 MILLION FROM THREE PREEMINENT GLOBAL INVESTORS TO INVEST IN EUROPEAN REAL ESTATE
29 September 2016. Henderson Park, led by Nick Weber, has launched as a new European real estate investment platform, backed by three cornerstone investors, Stone Point Capital, Kuwait Investment Authority and Wafra Investment Advisory Group, who have collectively committed over $500 million in capital.
Nick Weber, Founding Partner and CEO of Henderson Park, has over 20 years of real estate experience, most recently as Head of Europe for Mount Kellett. Previously, Nick spent 14 years at Goldman Sachs, where he was a Partner and Co-Head of its European Special Situations Group.
Henderson Park intends to invest opportunistically in the major European real estate markets, often gateway cities, targeting both assets and companies and investing directly in real estate or, at times, indirectly through the acquisition of loans. Henderson Park will pursue a wide variety of commercial real estate sectors including office, retail, residential, logistics and hotels, as well as alternative sectors, private rented sector/multi-family, healthcare or student housing.
Henderson Park’s strategy is a continuation of the successful investments that Nick executed during his time at Mount Kellett and the team has already identified a strong pipeline of investment opportunities. Henderson Park will focus on acquiring and repositioning assets that are in need of active asset management and capex investment and often require a change in ownership or a repositioned capital structure to create value and enhance investment returns.
Moreover, Henderson Park is supported by a Strategic Advisory Board that includes Steve Friedman, chairman of Stone Point Capital and former chairman of both Goldman Sachs and the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, Chuck Davis, CEO of Stone Point Capital, who was previously head of Investment Banking Services worldwide at Goldman Sachs, Henry Cornell, founder of Cornell Capital and the former senior partner and vice chairman of the Goldman Sachs Merchant Banking division and Dr Mohamad Khouja, Chairman & CEO of Wafra Investment Advisory Group.
Nick Weber, Founding Partner of Henderson Park commented: “I am both excited and honoured to be partnering with Stone Point, Wafra and KIA. Together, we have a clear ambition to build Henderson Park into an important European real estate capital provider and investor in the years to come. Henderson Park will look to partner with best in class operators to invest in attractive value-add and opportunistic real estate assets in the UK and across the continent. Relationships with our shareholders, investors and operating partners are the life blood of our business and are based on trust, integrity, alignment of interest and transparency. The team at Henderson Park believes the current market presents an exciting opportunity to invest into European real estate.”
Steve Friedman, Chairman of Stone Point added: “We are excited about the opportunities that lie ahead in European real estate and believe Nick, with the full support of his cornerstone investors and network of relationships, will build a highly successful and differentiated real estate investment management platform. Nick is a proven investor who has led several investment management platforms and we are delighted to be partnering with him and the Henderson Park team.”
Farouk Bastaki, Global Head of Alternative Investments at the Kuwait Investment Authority said: “We have had a longstanding relationship with Nick dating back to his time at Goldman Sachs and Mount Kellett. We look forward to building a long and strategic partnership with him through Henderson Park.”
Dr. Mohamad W. Khouja, Chairman & CEO of Wafra Investment Advisory Group commented: “We were investors with Nick at Mount Kellett and are excited to Partner with him in his new venture at Henderson Park alongside Stone Point and KIA.”
For further information:
FTI Consulting: +44 (0)20 3727 1000
Richard Sunerland, Ellie Sweeney, Clare Glynn
About Stone Point Capital
Stone Point Capital LLC is a financial services-focused private equity firm based in Greenwich, CT. The firm has raised and managed six private equity funds – the Trident Funds – with aggregate committed capital of approximately $13 billion. Stone Point targets investments in the global financial services industry, including investments in companies that provide outsourced services to financial institutions, banks and depository institutions, asset management firms, insurance and reinsurance companies, insurance distribution and other insurance-related businesses, specialty lending and other credit opportunities, mortgage services companies and employee benefits and healthcare companies. For further information about Stone Point, visit www.stonepoint.com.
About Wafra
Wafra is a global investment management firm based in New York. The Wafra group of companies has over $15 billion of assets and commitments under management. Wafra is beneficially owned by the Public Institution for Social Security of Kuwait. The investment activities of Wafra encompass private equity and debt, public equity and debt, Islamic finance, real estate and real assets. Funds advised by Wafra are backed by sovereign institutional investors, including Wafra’s parent company, the Public Institution for Social Security of Kuwait, and use long duration capital to partner with alternative investment managers seeking transformative capital.
The information contained herein shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy, nor shall there be any sale of any securities in any jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to registration, exemption from registration or qualification under the securities laws of any such jurisdiction.
