Institutional Equity Fundraising Cost

Does anyone have any insight into what real estate investment banks, such as HFF, charge to raise institutional equity? My assumption is that it's around 2% of the raise, but I really have nothing to base that on other than a guess.

17 Comments
 

For those of you that are raising equity through HFF and other brokerages. What criteria do they like to see for the raise to be successful? I am assuming there needs to be a certain million in transaction history. Are there IRR requirements? I always thought of the idea of a brokerage bringing you property and then doing the debt/equity portion of it, seemed a little farfetched.

Array
 

I know that HFF typically prefers to handle both debt and equity placement on deals in order to ensure that they have more control over whether the transaction is actually consummated. Reason being that they can sully their own capital relationships by advocating for a deal/sponsor and then having the deal fall through because the sponsor couldnt secure debt etc. Fee typically runs from 1-2% and can be generally negotiable.

 

Makes sense, but I am sure HFF would only see a successful raise for a top notch sponsor that normally wouldn't have an issue raising equity anyways. I don't think they would raise a for like a third tier sponsor (AUM less than $75 million).

Array
 

Ok so at what IRR are you really seeing equity being raised quickly. Let's say for a 5-7 year hold on a stabilized asset in a market outside a large city. What about the IRR in major cities? I'm curious because some of our investors seem to be out of sync with realistic IRR or maybe its just me.

Array
 

Related question, assuming you hired HFF to handle both debt and LP equity on a deal (let's say it's a $35MM purchase with another $5MM in capex/TI/LC to stabilize), if you as the sponsor came across potential equity that was not part of HFF's network, is it acceptable to carve said group out of the fee or at least tell HFF that you located one of their non clients on your own, and if that capital does the deal, HFF isn't getting paid?

Just wondering how those types of situations are handled. I'm guessing HFF may be pissed if that situation happened (i.e. they are pounding the pavement for equity and sponsor ends up sourcing their own below the radar capital).

Thoughts?

 
Best Response

Every broker is different, but one thing I'll guarantee is they'll fight like hell against carve outs. For us, carve outs are an automatic deal killer. We'll refuse an assignment before we accept carve outs, though if it's a good client that we want to work with we'll probably negotiate a reduced fee for a specific capital source if they are adamant about it.

One thing that's really important to understand is that each exclusive agreement is negotiated separately for each deal so even though we always start with the same agreement, by the time negotiations are done you can have all sorts of unique adjustments in there. Sometimes there are incentives based on rate, softs terms etc. Think of them as hurdles if you will. Sometimes the fee is flat or there are caps. The commission rate can be tiered as different leverage levels or actual dollar amounts. The term of exclusivity can be different. You get the point.

 

Quis ab inventore repellendus. Dignissimos magni repellat iste accusamus. Ut culpa dolore nihil et rerum debitis quibusdam.

Qui unde sit mollitia. Reprehenderit voluptate quidem accusantium officia consequatur accusantium nemo unde. Quia consequatur nobis qui omnis cumque ipsum et.

Array

Career Advancement Opportunities

June 2026 Investment Banking

  • Evercore 01 99.4%
  • Moelis & Company 01 98.8%
  • JPMorgan 01 98.2%
  • Guggenheim Partners 01 97.7%
  • Morgan Stanley 07 97.1%

Overall Employee Satisfaction

June 2026 Investment Banking

  • Moelis & Company No 99.4%
  • Morgan Stanley 01 98.8%
  • Evercore 01 98.2%
  • BMO Capital Markets 12 97.6%
  • Banco Santander 01 97.1%

Professional Growth Opportunities

June 2026 Investment Banking

  • Moelis & Company No 99.4%
  • Evercore No 98.8%
  • Morgan Stanley 05 98.2%
  • JPMorgan No 97.7%
  • BMO Capital Markets 12 97.1%

Total Avg Compensation

June 2026 Investment Banking

  • Vice President (14) $434
  • Associates (43) $259
  • 3rd+ Year Analyst (8) $210
  • 2nd Year Analyst (22) $179
  • Intern/Summer Associate (13) $156
  • 1st Year Analyst (75) $151
  • Intern/Summer Analyst (65) $101
notes
16 IB Interviews Notes

“... there’s no excuse to not take advantage of the resources out there available to you. Best value for your $ are the...”

Leaderboard

1
redever's picture
redever
99.2
2
kanon's picture
kanon
99.0
3
BankonBanking's picture
BankonBanking
99.0
4
Secyh62's picture
Secyh62
99.0
5
Betsy Massar's picture
Betsy Massar
98.9
6
dosk17's picture
dosk17
98.9
7
GameTheory's picture
GameTheory
98.9
8
CompBanker's picture
CompBanker
98.9
9
DrApeman's picture
DrApeman
98.9
10
bolo up's picture
bolo up
98.8
success
From 10 rejections to 1 dream investment banking internship

“... I believe it was the single biggest reason why I ended up with an offer...”