KordaMentha Real Estate today launched the rebrand of its commercial property fund manager, Placer Property, which is now called KM Property Funds.

In August 2017, KordaMentha Real Estate announced its expansion into unlisted commercial property funds management with the acquisition of Placer Property, allowing KordaMentha to offer high-quality commercial property investment opportunities to a range of investors, such as self-managed superannuation funds, retirees, and professionals, as well as first-time and experienced investors.

"We acquired Placer Property because it was an established platform and, importantly, we were able to retain the considerable experience of the management team. We also saw great alignment between the company's values and ours," said Tom Davis, Partner at KordaMentha Real Estate. Tom is also a Managing Director of KM Property Funds.

"It was extremely important that the property fund manager we acquired had all of the necessary indicators of a high-performing team, that was helmed by experienced fund managers."

KordaMentha spent the past 18 months working closely with the Placer Property team and has already achieved considerable success.

The first fund launched under the new KordaMentha ownership was 333 Exhibition Street Property Fund, which is now fully subscribed and paying a forecast income distribution of 6.5% in FY19. The property was purchased in December 2017 for $38.4 million and valued at $40.5 million in June 2018. The office building is 100% leased to the University of Melbourne.

Placer Property's NewActon East Property Fund was also a finalist in Money Management's Fund Manager of the Year Awards in 2018.

"By combining the strong fundamentals of Placer Property with KordaMentha's breadth of expertise, we knew we could bring unrivalled commercial property opportunities to market," Tom said.

"It has been an extremely successful start to the collaboration between the team at Placer Property and KordaMentha Real Estate over the past 18 months, and we look forward to that relationship strengthening further in the future."

Placer Property co-founders, David Omond and Mario Papaleo, continue in their roles as Managing Directors of KM Property Funds, and Placer Property Head of Investment Services, Bernadette Spiteri, continues in her role as Director, Investment Services.

Mario has more than 20 years' experience in direct real estate and funds management, including listed and unlisted property funds management. David has more than three decades of experience in managed investment schemes, with a focus on unlisted funds management. Bernadette has 25 years of senior executive funds management experience in marketing, distribution, product development, and client services.

"One of the big advantages of being within the KordaMentha group is that you are able to draw on the firm's depth of experience in negotiating and managing all sides of a property transaction, from due diligence and development to the correct structuring of finance," Mario said.

"This puts KM Property Funds in an excellent position to continue to deliver stand-out results for our investors." The name change to KM Property Funds brings the commercial property fund manager under the same branding guidelines as KordaMentha Real Estate's other divisions, including the property development arm, KM Develop.

It also coincides with the launch of a new KM Property Funds website kmpropertyfunds.com.

KM Property Funds manages four fully subscribed funds: Cambridge Bedford Property Fund leased to Hydro-Electric Corporation and Westpac Banking Corporation; 333 Exhibition Street Property Fund that is tenanted by the University of Melbourne; The Stables Property Fund, a neighbourhood shopping centre that is anchored by a full-line Woolworths supermarket and a BWS liquor outlet; and NewActon East Property Fund, which consists of the commercial component of the award-winning NewActon East development, and is tenanted by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission.

KM Property Funds has over $170 million in funds under management and more than 900 investors.