Brasa Capital Closes Largest Real Estate Fund With $582M in Commitments

Los Angeles-based real estate investment manager Brasa Capital Management has closed a new $582 million fund, its largest real estate fund to date, the company announced Tuesday.

Brasa will devote the fund, called Brasa Real Estate Fund III, to investing in middle-market residential and commercial assets in the Western U.S. and Texas, the company said in its announcement.

Eric Samek, founder and managing director at Brasa, told Commercial Observer the company benefited from “a majority of our existing investors coming into the new fund,” as well as 12 new investors. The combined investments allowed this third fund to exceed its predecessor fund by approximately 30 percent.

“In a difficult fund-raising environment, we were still able to expand and diversify our institutional investor base of corporate pensions, public pensions and foundations for Fund III,” Samek said in a statement.

“Investors were intrigued by our strategy, where we seek to take advantage of the inefficiencies that we believe exist in the less competitive middle market, and we received interest from both existing and new investors,” Samek added.

Pensions involved in the fund include the Teachers’ Retirement System of the State of Illinois — which pledged $100 million — and the New York State Common Retirement Fund, which provided a $10 million commitment through asset management firm GCM Grosvenor’s emerging manager program, PERE reported.

In addition, Artemis Real Estate Partners brought in investors through its emerging manager program, PERE reported.

Brasa, which currently has 17 employees, typically invests between $10 million and $40 million of equity in a range of property types, particularly in multifamily, industrial and nonperforming loans, the company said.

This is the third fund Brasa has launched since its founding in 2018, including the $120 million Fund I in 2018 and the $450 million Fund II in 2021, the company said.

The news comes after Jeff Furber, former global CEO at AEW Capital Management, assumed the role of Brasa’s chairman less than a year ago.

“His advice has been invaluable over the span of my career,” Samek, who worked under Furber for over a decade during his own time at AEW, said in a statement. “I remain incredibly grateful for Jeff’s support and am beyond excited to experience this next chapter together.”

—With additional reporting by Brian Pascus

Isabelle Durso can be reached at idurso@commercialobserver.com.