What is REPE?

Long time lurker here and hopefully I don't get too much monkey shit thrown at me but I had a discussion with guys in my team today as to what REPE actually is and there seems to be quite a bit of confusion/disagreement... I appreciate it really doesn't matter at the end of the day but I was just quite interested in it

For a bit of background, our team is based in the UK (which may result in the different definitions?) and we are in one of the big agencies (CBRE/JLL/C&W/Eastdil etc etc)

General Private Equity Real Estate Fund Structure

My definition of REPE was always:

• GP & LP Structure
• Pooled Capital or Separate Accounts
• Closed-End Funds
• Typical Strategies Value Add+ but I felt Core could be REPE given the first three points

However, opinions differed in the team

• Source of capital cannot be "institutional" ie cannot be pension fund money - otherwise the firm is just a fund manager/institutional investor I disagreed heavily with this because if you take a look at the underlying investors in many, lets say "traditional" PERE firms, the lionshare of backers are public or private pension funds with the odd smattering of foundations/endowments.
• Strategies have to solely be higher end of Value Add+ I disagreed because I would consider Lasalle REPE and they have core funds
• Often has the ability to invest in operational platforms in addition to real estate - example Blackstone delisting a REIT and selling its assets, or a smaller UK REPE firm buying a retirement home operator I disagreed, there are plenty of small shops which I would consider REPE that wouldn't consider such strategies or do not have the capacity.
• GP & LP Structure
• Pooled Capital or Separate Accounts
• Closed-End Funds

I then thought up a small list of firms that I counted as REPE but the common consensus amongst the majority, bar one, discounted the firms noted in *bold* and preferred to class them as just an investment manager/fund manager/institutional investor.

Short List of Real Estate PE firms

• Lasalle Investment Management
• CBRE GI
• Invesco
• Blackstone
• Tristan
• Cerberus

I had a similar conversation with a friend afterwards who is in REPE (His firm only invests in the upper end of Value Add spectrum and beyond) and he said:

• GP & LP Structure
• Pooled Capital or Separate Accounts
• Closed-End Funds
• Value Add+

Who your parent is - ie he would discount any firm who's parent is an insurance company or core money

I had a look on this forum and Jabathehut provided a definition which I would tend to agree with www.wallstreetoasis DOT com/forums/what-is-real-estate-private-equity

I always thought this should be a simple discussion - and maybe I'm/we are being idiots- but I was just wondering if there is a difference in definition in the US, where most of you are based, and here in the UK.

Thoughts?

Recommended Reading

• What News Sources Do You Use To Keep Up With REPE?