US property titan Hines targets Europe’s wealthy with new fund

[LONDON] US real estate giant Hines is launching a new vehicle targeting individual investors in Europe, joining a host of private capital managers looking to tap the continent’s wealthy. 

The firm received regulatory approval to launch the Hines Global Real Estate Opportunities strategy, according to a statement on Monday (Nov 2).

The fund is an open-ended, evergreen vehicle structured as a European Long-Term Investment Fund (ELTIF), meaning it will allow periodic redemptions.

The fund will initially be distributed to European private wealth investors, with plans to also target clients in Asia-Pacific, Latin America and Canada.

In the US, Hines already runs the Hines Global Income Trust with about US$6.9 billion in gross asset value. 

As individuals’ access to private markets broadens, “the focus should shift from the wrapper to the quality of the underlying asset itself”, said David Steinbach, Hines’ chief investment officer.

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He added that the firm will access the market with “durable real assets backed by long-term fundamentals, disciplined valuations, liquidity management and experienced teams capable of navigating market cycles”.

The Houston-based developer and investor, which oversees US$91 billion of assets, is among a growing number of alternative asset managers including Blackstone and Apollo Global Management that are seeking to cater more to individual investors. 

In Europe, more than 250 private market funds were launched since 2024, after regulators overhauled rules for so-called ELTIFs.

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Many asset managers have so far refrained from disclosing how much the vehicles have raised while they continue to work on building out their distribution channels.

An ELTIF does not require a minimum investment, making it more accessible to retail investors.

Still, many managers typically ask fund buyers to stump up at least 10,000 euros (US$11,201), while fees tend to be far higher than for publicly traded funds, given the work involved in sourcing and executing deals. 

ELTIF launches in 2026 continued at a similar pace to 2025, despite wider market jitters over private capital managers’ exposure to software companies and concerns about the quality of some loans.

Some managers in 2026 opted to set up private market funds that focus on other asset classes such as infrastructure, or that combine multiple strategies.

Infrastructure currently makes up the biggest chunk of ELTIF assets while real estate only accounts for 6.6 per cent, according to research and consulting firm Novantigo. 

In 2024, Hines tapped Paul Ferraro from Carlyle Group to run its private-wealth solutions strategy globally.

In 2025, it hired former Schroders executive Eugenio Cicconetti to build out its unit for Europe’s rich.

Founded in 1957 by the late billionaire Gerald Hines, the eponymous firm has become one of the world’s top developers, constructing eye-catching structures such as the Lipstick Building in Manhattan as well as skyscrapers that transformed Houston’s skyline in the 1970s and 1980s. BLOOMBERG