Hong Kong based real estate private equity firm Gaw Capital Partners has announced its exit from Cupertino Gateway, a class A office building in the heart of Silicon Valley.
Gaw Capital Partners sold the property for $165 million with more than 40% internal rate of return (IRR). Gaw Capital Partners acquired Cupertino Gateway in September 2013 on behalf of institutional investors from Korea.
Cupertino Gateway is located just across the freeway from the nearly completed 2.8- million-square-foot Apple 2 campus and also next to other Apple-leased buildings - Cupertino Gateway is truly the “gateway” to the heart of Silicon Valley and combines three separate buildings for a total of 220,672 square feet.
Cupertino Gateway was one of the 12 separate account acquisitions led by Gaw Capital Partners on behalf of its Asian clients since 2010. In recent years, Gaw’s notable transactions include 333 Market Street in San Francisco in 2010; Three First National Plaza in Chicago in 2011; Vintners’ Place in London in 2012; the Lloyd’s Building and Paddington Waterside House in London in 2013; Exchange Tower in London in 2014 and Columbia Center in Seattle in 2015.
In addition to leading the acquisition process (including due diligence), Gaw Capital Partners also provides debt financing advising and asset management in such transactions. Goodwin Gaw, Chairman and Managing Principal of Gaw Capital Partners said, “We are delighted to have led the successful exit of this prime Silicon Valley property. We are proud of our ability to continually and consistently identify winning investment opportunities in challenging markets.”
Gaw Capital Partners also exited Vintner’s Place, another separate account investment on Upper Thames Street in London, on behalf of Korean institutional investors with an exceptional return of 17.7 percent IRR and at a 1.58 multiple earlier this year. Both acquisitions were made during post-2008 financial crises.
“This exit builds on the success of our other separate account direct investments for our valued limited partners (LPs),” said Christina Gaw, Managing Principal and Head of Capital Markets. “We are grateful for the investors’ support and confidence in partnering with us. Gaw Capital Partners is dedicated to helping our LPs look for investment opportunities with favorable returns in the global real estate markets.”
In addition to its separate account direct investment services, Gaw Capital Partners also manage four value-add opportunistic real estate private equity funds in Greater China and Asia and two funds in the US market.
