Schroders Capital has announced that its debut discretionary pan-European operating hotels fund has exceeded the €500 million hard cap target with its final close.

The Schroders Capital European Operating Hotels Fund has reached €525 million of investor commitments after having initially targeted €300 million, as result of significant investor interest in the strategy.

Investors included large institutional investors such as some of Europe’s largest insurance companies, primarily from France, the Netherlands and Finland, as well as a sovereign wealth fund from the Middle East.

Assuming moderate leverage, the Fund has around €850 million of capital to deploy and the firm said the fund is ‘well-positioned’ to take advantage of the opportunities emerging across Europe.

The Schroders Capital real estate hotels team consists of almost 40 dedicated hotel investment and asset management specialists located on the ground throughout Europe. It has a 20-year track record of acquiring and operating the underlying hotels independently, as well as under a franchise or hotel management agreement.

Frederic de Brem, head of real estate hotels at Schroders Capital, said: “Covid-19 has been a massive learning experience, even for our highly experienced team. Our cost management skills have been carefully honed over the last year on the 50+ hotels currently managed by the team and we believe this will enable us to be even more effective in our new deal underwriting.”