Jadian Capital closes $650M fund targeting emerging real estate

Firm looking at life sciences, cell towers, data centers

Jadian Capital's Jarret Cohen with Jadian’s life sciences property in Fremont, CA (Photo via Jadian Capital)
Jadian Capital's Jarret Cohen with Jadian’s life sciences property in Fremont, CA (Photo via Jadian Capital)

Jadian Capital has closed a $650 million fund that will target emerging real estate sectors, such as life sciences, data centers and cell towers.

The Greenwich, Connecticut-based investment firm, led by former Fir Tree Partners executive Jarret Cohen, surpassed its initial target raise of $400 million. Capital for its new fund came from institutional investors, including state and corporate pension funds, endowments, foundations, investment managers and family offices.

The company is looking for highly structured deals that have traditionally been overlooked by commercial real estate investors.

“We tend to do the less competitive sectors,” said Cohen, who noted that non-core real estate tends to outperform traditional sectors over time.

Investment in real estate tied to life sciences is expected to soar in the future. In New York, more than $1 billion of venture capital funding poured into life sciences last year, up from $990 million in 2018 and $366 million in 2017, according to JLL. Demand for data center real estate has also boomed in recent months due to the popularity of streaming services like TikTok.

Jadian Capital’s strategy differs from funds set up by firms like Starwood Capital and Oaktree, which are seeking to raise billions of dollars to deploy into distressed assets such as hotels and office properties.

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Cohen said that dry powder will limit the number of distress opportunities in traditional real estate sectors.

“I don’t foresee deep bargain-hunting,” said Cohen.

Jadian plans make its investments by buying new assets or adding value to existing ones, or it may invest directly in companies that it’s targeting. The firm will look at deals throughout the country.

Cohen founded Jadian Capital in 2017. He was previously head of private real estate and a partner at the New York-based hedge fund Fir Tree Partners, which made billions from investing in distressed properties.

Jadian’s past deals have included a preferred equity position in the largest independent developer of plasma collection centers. The company is also looking to invest further in renewable energy (e.g. wind and solar) projects.