At Berkeley Assets, we are advocates for driving women into leadership positions. Archna Cummings, Head of Operations, has steered the recruitment initiative and welcomed several skilled female professionals into careers at all levels. Since the initiative begun, we have now doubled the number of female employees. 

Berkeley Assets has curated and implemented an internal training and development program to continuously improve the workforce. As a result of this, several members of the Dubai office have been promoted due to their hard work and dedication. With the workforce expanding, an executive decision was made to remove third-party service providers and introducers in order to maximise the efficiency of the team and deliver a seamless work approach. 

Private Equity (PE) GPs are optimistic about deal-making in 2021 and are gearing up to spend unallocated dry powder. With a rebound in IPO activity and more blank check companies, this will likely mean increased competition for deals. These trends will continue during 2021 with high-profile names including Robinhood considering going public.

Nearly 90 PE firms representing over $700 billion in AUM have signed up to Initiative Climate International (iCI), a first-of-its-kind climate initiative for PE representing a step up in climate action, and continued ESG investing.

A common focus for Berkeley Assets and other real estate-focused PE firms is assisted living. Assisted living historically has been among the more resilient sectors in downturns, and COVID-19 has boosted demand for care facilities. We see this as a compelling long-term investment opportunity. 

Our new institutional fund will be aiming to purchase a mixture of developments for income and capital uplift, in particular targeting distressed vendors for an immediate capital yield. The Berkeley Asset Development Fund will also look to place capital into a mixed-use development finance portfolio and land for planning gain.

As we entered 2021, we underwent a complete redesign to enhance our private client engagement process. 

As a result of this change, clients can now place capital via multiple routes. This includes the general pool, which provides a fixed rate of return on capital between a three and seven-year term. Alternatively, private clients have access to the recently launched Berkeley Asset Development Fund, which provides a targeted annual return of 12-15% through a pooled fund structure. This enables Berkeley Assets to combine both institutional and private client capital.

In addition, we look to provide private clients access to more direct projects over the course of the year, something which we have seen growing demand for over the last 24-months. The onboarding process for all routes entails a truly tailored proposal for each client, taking into careful consideration client’s specific requirements and needs.