Governing Principals

Trebuchet Capital Partners has created a family of private equity real estate funds centered on real estate investment.

 First

Investor protection, balanced returns. Public stocks, bonds, mutual funds are at the mercy of the market. In many cases stocks or traded funds are highly correlated to the overall market, or are “over-amplified” to the downside. By creating the right foundation and structure, for the investment thesis, we de-risk the investment in a way publicly traded stocks cannot.

Second

Technological Innovation. Data is becoming more important to real estate to make investment decisions and forecasts. Throughout the investment life-cycle we use proprietary market research to uncover opportunities others may miss.

Third

A social responsibility component. Not only are we leaders in this field, but the philanthropy we do helps contribute to our sector. Our private charity, the Trebuchet Foundation receives up to 10% of all management fees. This earned income, goes towards helping recognizing outstanding achievements in Architecture.

Private Equity Real Estate Investment Funds

We are able to match Private Equity Real Estate fund investment mandates with conventional and novel structures.
All data as of  November 26th, 2020

Fund Summary Table
FundFund Size
(unlevered)		Investment StrategyTarget Acquisition Investment Size
Trifecta Fund (Retail)To $20mSouth Florida & Toronto based fund concentrated on building in the affordable luxury residential sector.$750k to $5m USD
Core Closed Funds
USA Roundtable Fund (series I-III) (Institutional)		$35m to $135mAssemble a portfolio of stabilized, industrial real estate assets in primary geographies. Core to core plus strategy with value adds and limited re-positioning of Class C industrial properties.$5m to $85m
Closed Opportunistic Funds
Pomerium Fund (series I-II)
(Institutional)		$30m to $150mAssemble a portfolio or pieces of land, for purpose of building and divestment of light industrial/warehouse/distribution and or condominiums. Other strategies include compilation of originated mortgage/debt notes.$30m to $80m
Separate Account
(Min. $2m)		VariesInvestment Strategy & Thesis varies by account$5m $100m

Our Investment Process

Private Equity Real Estate

Research:

Macro/micro research & analysis followed by stringent fund offering structure to align our 3 main criteria;

“Does the investment have the ability to outperform?”
“Is it differentiated & relevant in the marketplace?”
“Does it solve a problem for the LPs and for the (potential) revenue generators of the fund?”.

Screen:

Potential investments are based off the investment thesis. Records and data will be collected by our street and office teams, to gain insight to potential acquisitions. Attempts are made via online, area marketing, radio, and direct to reach out to potential sellers. Special websites, CRMs and call centers are engaged. Existing relationships and new contacts are sought out by the origination team. Majority of assets are screened out based on location/asset type/age/quality. Remaining assets are assessed on cap rate and price, numbers are entered into a financial model. This process takes about 30 seconds. If value is shown, further information such as rent rolls, tax, incorporation information, debt, financials is obtained. Price discussions occur and financial model is updated. Upside or hidden value is analysed. Assessment is made to go or abandon deal. Level 2 screen is outsourced for outstanding liability, tax, ownership confirmation, environmental issues. Site visits are conducted, underwriters are approached, model updated. If valuation is in line, a draft property summary board is informally pitched, if go, building study/phase 1 environmental conducted. If no issues, then a no-shop lockup agreement is formed. Network of underwriters approached with package. Mindful of transaction costs.

Invest:

Based on existing LPA criteria, capital is deployed after LP investment committee approves. Typical, well documented building close procedure.

Manage & Monitor:

Assets are documented and budgets matched from investment phase are implemented, research and screening phases are ongoing to monitor market fundamentals. Any value adds are budgeted/implemented. Outsourced credit monitoring. Lease renewals are staggered. We actively tour and are hands on managers, speaking with our tenants often. Leasing is outsourced.

Exit:

Ongoing research is used to quantify best divestment of assets congruent with fund liquidation data. Last minute yield enhancements to maximize value are implemented. Transaction costs kept to a minimum.   

Competitive Advantages

  • Institutional Private Equity terms- Retail Investment Size

    Retail investors have little options for private real estate funds. The majority have no oversite, large fees, high overhead, and meager net of fee returns. Trebuchet is interested in opening this for investors to show high returns to future institutional investors and have past investors participate in new offerings.

  • No conflicts, no old deals

    We don’t recycle old deals, deal by deal may move to slow to close. Many funds buy or have previous inside ownership creating lower returns and serious conflicts of interest- we don’t seed funds with “top of the market” deals or make it an internal strategy to have our investors take on significant risks with private to public liquidation strategies.

  • Transparent Fund Structure

    Our business is the manufacture of investment products. Our customer is the investor. Regardless of investor or investment, we can only work with investors that are aligned with us. A transparent fund structure a clear investment strategy and a documented investment process helps solve the majority of LP issues with GPs. Typically our terms are only found in large institutional funds.

  • Modular Organization Structure

    Risk is lessened with a modular structure. In a operating fund, management can be swapped with 3 phone calls or less. Organization risk is less than other firms. This also means Trebuchet can scale very quickly without being bulky and overweight. Fiduciary duty and care is baked into Trebuchet by the structure.

  • Vertically Integrated

    As we grow, we integrate. This means we are looking at strategic acquisitions, startups and partnerships at the General Partner level to yield a competitive advantage in building. See our page on our vertical integration strategies.

About

Private Equity Real Estate

Private Equity Real Estate Structure

The Structure

Private Equity Real Estate invests in real physical property, not stocks or derivatives. Ownership of assets is limited by a finite, predetermined fund life. Investors invest as Limited Partners (LPs), to limit their liability, and not be responsible for the management of the fund. To manage day-to-day operations, a General Partner (GP) is appointed. The GP is paid a fixed fee for managing the assets. They are incentivized with a profit share or bonus if the assets if the fund over performs. At maturity, the assets are sold and any outstanding distributions are paid, excess profit distributed between the LP and GP. The structure provides for basic investor protection, much variation is found in these structures as a rule.

Returns over Stock Market

Pensions and money managers are increasing allocations for private equity real estate. The evidence demonstrates that private equity has outperformed public equity markets net of fees over the last 30 years (Harris, Jenkinson and Kaplan (2014), Higson and Stucke (2013), Robinson and Sensoy (2013) and Ang et al. (2013).  The rate of the outperformance vs the S&P 500 is on the order of 20% over the life of the fund. Others, (Axelson, Sorensen, and Stromberg 2013) are finding PE delivers a solid 8% per year net of fee return. Private equity is very distinct from startup seed or venture capital. When companies or assets are purchased within private equity funds, they show strong, consistent performance levels when the assets are sold at maturity of the fund (Guo et al. 2011).

The Trebuchet Way

As demonstrated, the private equity real estate model works, and it has a range of benefits. Chiefly, is flexibility, we are not confined to a single asset type, strategy, geography or portfolio size. We go where the returns and economic conditions are favorable. We can partner with local and international asset managers to co-manage and own properties, leveraging deal sizes. We can partner with pension funds or life insurance companies to scale their reach and add expertise. That flexibility keeps us modular and interchangeable to the whole. Offering investors a wide range and in some cases, a custom fund or strategy. Because we are private, no stock market volatility.

Structure is important and often overlooked. We create the best structures in which to keep relevant and valuable.

Absolute risk vs reward doesn’t have to be all or nothing.

Our innovative & unique structures optimize real estate holdings for investors to help foster the best potential. Other differentiators are more nuanced, but have tremendous impact.

We like digging in, getting engaged, exploring new technologies, processes and researching new ways for lasting change. One myth is that private equity real estate is that it is short-sighted, and because of the nature of real estate we are less focused on quarterly values that public company peers.
We are very focused on exit values and making that property attractive to home buyers, or tenants. Our goal is to build a great firm. We define that as building profitable, diverse fund portfolios.

Register to learn about our upcoming Private Equity Real Estate fund offering.

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