Simmons & Simmons has advised Chenavari Investment Managers on the establishment of a Luxembourg trading platform which is their first hedge fund to invest in European commercial real estate debt and preferred equity.

Chenavari Investment Managers is an alternative asset-manager specialised in European credit and debt markets with over $1.7bn assets under management. 

This newly created Chenavari Real Estate Trading portfolio is targeting up to €250m of investment complementing the various other fixed income portfolios Chenavari Investment Managers manages, including corporate credit, asset-backed securities, structured credit and bank regulatory capital.

The Luxembourg vehicle will be used to significantly expand Chenavari’s already successful investment strategy relating to investment in European real estate transactions and to offer investors in its hedge fund the opportunity to benefit from that investment strategy.  Investment will predominantly be in the UK and Germany.

The Simmons & Simmons team was led by London corporate tax partner Nick Cronkshaw, together with London banking partner Mark Waghorn, German corporate tax partner Heiko Stoll and German financial markets partner Harald Glander, assisted by associates Hatice Ismail (corporate tax, London), Stefan Skulesch (corporate tax, Germany) and Norman Mayr (financial markets, Germany).

Sam Mellor, from the Chenavari Real Estate team, said: “The Simmons & Simmons team was really good to deal with – they were responsive and commercial. We are very pleased with the structure and are excited about the potential for our business and growing it with the help of trusted partners such as Simmons & Simmons.”

Nick Cronkshaw said: “We very much enjoyed working with the Chenavari team and are looking forward to building on our relationship in the future.” 

Luxembourg law firm Elvinger, Hoss & Prussen assisted on the Luxembourg tax and regulatory sides.