U.S. opportunistic investment in European real estate

Abstract

This thesis will look at the investment activities of US real estate opportunity funds after the collapse of the late 1980's and early 1990's and how their strategies have evolved over the last decade. It will investigate the strategies that these funds are currently employing in the attempt to maintain their high yield mandate and in particular will study issues affecting US capital flows into high yield European real estate investments. The body of the thesis will have four major sections. The first will investigate the history of US real estate opportunity funds and the economic conditions in the US and Europe that led to their creation. The second part of the thesis will describe what opportunity funds are and how they structure themselves legally, their capital structure and fees. This section will also attempt to describe deal types which opportunity funds have used to achieve their returns in the past. The third part of the thesis will describe the four largest economies in Europe from an economic, real estate, lease contract and taxation policy perspective. The fourth part of the thesis will build on the previous three and raise issues that will affect US opportunity funds that choose to invest in Europe.