![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/GettyImages-2233756625-1-716x403.jpg\" "\\"Financial")
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AllianceBernstein has raised $500 million to target what it describes as core and core-plus European loan deals, to complement its existing higher-yielding lending in the region, Real Estate Capital Europe has learned.<\/p>\n
The allocation was made by an existing investor and has been structured as an evergreen sleeve within AllianceBernstein\u2019s existing European real estate debt strategy. A sleeve is designed to hold assets that may require a longer investment horizon or have different liquidity profiles than other assets within the main vehicle.<\/p>\n
The firm did not identify the investor, although REC Europe understands the capital was allocated by its parent company, the US insurer Equitable. AllianceBernstein has plans to scale the strategy by seeking additional third-party investor commitments.<\/p>\n
Through the vehicle, AllianceBernstein is aiming to provide loans akin to those offered by banks and insurance companies, but with the added flexibility on terms that can be offered by a debt fund manager. It intends to retain its mid-market focus<\/a> and will typically aim to write loans in the \u20ac50 million-\u20ac100 million size bracket. Target loan to value for loans is understood to be up to 75 percent. Pricing will likely be within a 200-300 basis points range over Libor or Sonia.<\/p>\n The firm\u2019s first loan through the vehicle, provided in late September, was slightly larger than its typical target size, with a \u00a3120 million (\u20ac137 million), 57 percent LTV financing of a high-end mixed-use asset in London\u2019s West End.<\/p>\n Clark Coffee, chief investment officer and head of AllianceBernstein\u2019s European commercial real estate debt business told REC Europe the capital enables the firm to offer a wider suite of products to its borrower base.<\/p>\n \u201cThe money we had previously targets two segments of the market,\u201d he explained. \u201cOne is value-add, transitional whole loan lending. It is deals with an underlying value-add business plan, which banks are not sure about. The other is focused on higher-yielding opportunistic and subordinate lending,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Coffee explained the core, core-plus sleeve will look more like traditional bank or insurance company lending: \u201cIt gives us a full suite of lending. If a sponsor has something risky and needs capital, we have that. If it has something stable and income-producing and needs a lender to give more flexibility than a bank, we can now do that too. It book-ends what most clients ask of us.\u201d<\/p>\n He said the vehicle will enable AllianceBernstein to offer what is known in the US as \u2018construction-to-perm\u2019 financing, whereby construction loans transform into investment loans once milestones in the business plan are reached. It will also enable the firm to participate in senior syndicated lending transactions.<\/p>\n The evergreen structure of the capital is a benefit, Coffee added. \u201cEvergreen structures provide more stability because we don\u2019t have to go out and raise once the $500 million is deployed. We can recycle the capital after it is deployed and continue to lend.\u201d<\/p>\n AllianceBernstein, which entered the European real estate debt market in 2020, is also raising capital for its second comingled debt fund for the region, AB European Commercial Real Estate Debt Secured Income Fund II. Capital raised for that strategy, plus the allocation for the core, core-plus sleeve, is understood to have increased its European real estate debt asset base by around 60 percent during 2025 to date. In addition to the $500 million allocation for the core, core-plus strategy, the firm raised an additional $100 million from the same investor for the wider lending strategy.<\/p>\n