The below press release went out this morning. It's a good news story that shows the resiliency of grocery and food logistics.

On a related note, Slate Retail REIT also recently announced that, as of April 14th, it had already collected 80% of April rents and was outperforming the industry. At that time and based on industry feedback, the REIT estimated that a number of retail strip center landlords were seeing April rent collections in the range of 40-50%.

TORONTO and LONDON, April 23, 2020 /CNW/ -- Slate Asset Management ("Slate"), a leading alternative asset management platform with a focus on real estate, announced today the final close of its Slate European Real Estate Fund III ("Slate Europe III"). Consistent with its predecessor funds, Slate Europe III will target grocery real estate assets in Europe. The oversubscribed closed-end fund exceeded its target size of €200 million and closed at its hard-cap of €250 million.

"During this unprecedented time of market disruption, we are pleased to close Slate Europe III at its hard-cap and are thankful for the confidence investors from diverse geographies continue to place in us as Slate expands its presence across Europe," said Brady Welch, Slate's London-based Founding Partner. "We have been investing in last-mile logistics for some time and are proud to launch our third fund in the European grocery real estate space since 2016, a feat that underscores our commitment to the sector and validates the importance of last-mile solutions in the grocery real estate market."

Since December 2016, Slate has completed a total of 250 grocery property acquisitions in Europe comprising over 450,000 square meters of gross leasable space. Slate has European offices in London, Frankfurt, Dublin and Luxembourg.

About Slate Asset Management

Slate Asset Management is a leading real estate-focused alternative investment platform with over $6.5 billion in assets under management. Slate is a value-oriented manager and a significant sponsor of all of its private and publicly traded investment vehicles, which are tailored to the unique goals and objectives of its investors. The firm's careful and selective investment approach creates long-term value with an emphasis on capital preservation and outsized returns. Slate is supported by exceptional people, flexible capital and a demonstrated ability to originate and execute on a wide range of compelling investment opportunities. Visit slateam.com to learn more.

For Further Information
Investor Relations
+1 416 644 4264
ir@slateam.com

SOURCE Slate Asset Management L.P.

In 1960, real estate investment trusts were created in the U.S. with the goal of democratizing real estate ownership. Here’s how Yale professor Robert Schiller described it:

“REITs were created by law in 1960 to democratize the real estate market and make it possible for a broad base of investors to participate in this huge asset class. That was absolutely the right thing to do, because portfolio theory tells us people should diversify across major asset classes, and real estate is one of them.”

But a lot of things have changed since 1960. We now have the internet. 

And one of the things that the internet is very good at is creating peer-to-peer networks that connect supply and demand without the same kind of intermediaries. This could be people who have MP3s with people who want MP3s or it could be people who have real estate with people who are looking to invest in real estate.

So with the advent of crowdfunding in both the U.S. and Canada, I think we are at the dawn of another era of real estate democratization. Already we have seen the first crowdfunded real estate development project and it happened at a much smaller and local scale than is usually the case with REITs.

Similarly, we are also seeing companies emerge – such as HomeUnion in the U.S. – that allow people to build their own rental portfolios by directly investing, either fully or partially, in real estate. Again, there are differences here compared to how REITs typically operate.

When I was in grad school at Penn and Sam Zell used to come in and talk to the students, he used always mention how when he started out in real estate (1960s) the industry was disproportionately controlled by a small number of players. That’s been changing ever since and it looks like that trend will only continue.

St. Lawrence by Ralph Sobanski on 500px

I have an announcement to make on Architect This City today.

Next week I’m joining the development team at CAPREIT (TSE: CAR.UN) here in Toronto. CAPREIT is one of Canada’s largest residential landlords. They are a growth-oriented real estate investment trust with over 41,839 residential units in major urban centers across both Canada and Ireland.

They also happen to be headquartered in the St. Lawrence Market area, which means I now live and work in the same neighborhood. As we discussed here, location matters a lot.

So here’s to a new chapter. I’m looking forward to diving into the multi-family business. Change is good.