GI Partners Announces Launch of GI Real Estate Essential Tech + Science Fund (“ETS Fund”)
GI Partners’ First Open-End Fund to Focus on Data Center Properties, Life Sciences Assets, and
“Always On” Research & Development Facilities
SAN FRANCISCO, July 14, 2021 – GI Partners, a leading private investment firm, announced today the launch of the GI Real Estate Essential Tech + Science Fund (“ETS Fund” or the “Fund”), which seeks to invest in real estate assets that continuously operate in order to support mission critical functions of the technology and life sciences industries. The ETS Fund will seek to acquire data center properties, life sciences assets, and always on research & development (“R&D”) facilities within the office and industrial sectors.
Established in 2001, GI Partners has focused on downside-protected growth investing across all its strategies, with a particular focus on technology and healthcare. The ETS Fund seeks to continue the Firm’s strategy of investing in specialized opportunities in essential technology and science real estate by capitalizing on the firm’s collective technology, life sciences, and real estate skillsets. The ETS Fund is led by John Sheputis, former President of Infomart, and a team of over 20 investment and management professionals.
Rick Magnuson, Executive Managing Director and Founder of GI Partners, said, “Since creating data center pioneer Digital Realty Trust in 2001, GI Partners has been a leader in technology and life sciences real estate. As we celebrate the 20th anniversary of our firm, we look forward to continuing to invest in this space with the launch of the ETS Fund.”
John Sheputis, Managing Director of GI Partners and Head of the ETS Fund, said, “The global economy is being transformed by technological and science innovations impacting the way people live and work. Data centers, life sciences assets, and always on facilities support essential functions of the 24/7 modern economy. Our goal is to maximize risk-adjusted returns for our investors by identifying untapped segments of the market where our experience provides a critical competitive advantage. We believe our initial portfolio and extensive pipeline reflect the opportunities in these important sectors.”
Since launching in early 2021, the ETS Fund has been actively investing in a diverse portfolio of data centers, life sciences assets, and R&D facilities across the United States, including:
· Walsh-Bowers Assemblage (207,534 sq. ft., Santa Clara, CA), a portfolio of three buildings in the primary data center hub for Silicon Valley;
· Mt. Eden Research Park (369,986 sq. ft., Hayward, CA), a six-building life sciences campus in the San Francisco Bay area whose existing tenants are pioneers in their respective fields and position the asset well for future life sciences growth;
· The Pointe (89,145 sq. ft., Redwood City, CA), two life sciences buildings adjacent to a rapidly maturing Bay Area life sciences submarket;
· 3701 Market St. (140,913 sq. ft., Philadelphia, PA), a purpose-built lab and R&D facility whose infrastructure supports high quality wet lab, research, medical office, and data center space.
“The GI Partners Real Estate team has an established track record of sourcing, acquiring, and managing mission critical real estate by identifying assets with the potential for both attractive near-term income yield and long-term upside value,” said John Saer, Managing Director and Head of GI Partners Real Estate, which currently manages over $13 billion in assets including a significant technology and life sciences real estate portfolio across 13 leading U.S. markets.
“We are pleased to expand our offerings to a wider investor audience with the firm’s first open-end fund focused on the technology and life sciences sectors. We are grateful for the trust placed by our limited partners to continue our track record of investing in these growing and essential real estate areas,” said Philip Yau, Managing Director of GI Partners.
About GI Partners
Founded in 2001, GI Partners is a private investment firm with over 100 employees based in San Francisco, California with offices in New York, Chicago, Greenwich, CT, and Scottsdale, AZ. The firm has raised over $28 billion in capital from leading institutional investors around the world to invest in private equity, real estate, and data infrastructure strategies. The private equity team invests primarily in companies in the healthcare, IT infrastructure, services, and software sectors. Te real estate team focuses primarily on technology and life sciences properties as well as other specialized types of real estate. The data infrastructure team invests primarily in hard asset infrastructure businesses underpinning the digital economy. GI Partners is a signatory to the Principles for Responsible Investment, a UN sponsored network of international investors and is also a participant in the Global Real Estate Sustainability Benchmark. For more information, please visit www.gipartners.com.