The $21 billion Minneapolis alternative investment firm Castlelake made a $150 million investment in IMH, a a Sweden-based specialty lender.
The transaction includes the purchase of IMH’s existing loans and financing facility for the origination of new loans. According to an announcement, IMH lends up to SEK50 million ($5 million) to small- to medium-sized real estate investors and developers to address short term liquidity needs in areas such as construction and operations.
“IMH and its experienced management team are well-positioned to provide capital to a growing but underserved market, and we believe this investment can deliver value to our investors as well as IMH and its stakeholders,” said Philipp Braschel, partner of European Real Assets at Castlelake has invested $3 billion the years in specialty finance.
Since its founding in 2005, Castlelake has acquired more than 7,000 assets across 12 European countries. Castlelake’s recent activity in northern Europe includes $500 million in loans to real estate developers and investors that are actively transitioning assets to more modern usages and more than $600 million in financing facilities to consumer and small business credit originators in the U.K.
According to Jonas Hägerbäck, CEO of IMH, the firm will benefit from Castlelake’s deep expertise in both specialty finance and in the real assets space.
