Savills Investment Management takes 25% stake in DRC Capital

Savills Investment Management has acquired a 25% stake in DRC Capital, a commercial real estate debt investment adviser.

Under the terms of the deal, Savills has the option to acquire the remaining 75% in 2021. It said that the acquisition would enable it to widen its investment proposition to include debt-lending strategies.

DRC Capital was founded in 2012 and has arranged over £2.6 billion across a range of senior debt, high yield and whole loan products. It currently has £2 billion in assets under management in a range of senior debt, high yield and whole loan products. It also carried out one of the largest real estate fund launches in Europe in 2017 with a European high yield fund.

Savills IM chairman, Nick Cooper, said: “The DRC team is highly regarded in the industry with an impressive track record and the combination with Savills Investment Management will enable us to provide our investors with product access to the entire real estate capital structure. With the benefit of regular income and the borrower’s equity cushion, debt is often seen as an attractive alternative to direct equity investment. With Savills IM primarily adopting an income style investing approach, we believe that the investment fundamentals of debt investing make it attractive to offer both strategies throughout the whole cycle.”