David Rubenstein-Backed Firm Raises Fund To Target U.S. Industrial, Multifamily

One of the nation's leading billionaire private equity leaders has courted the super-rich to invest in U.S. industrial and apartment properties.

Declaration Partners, a fund backed by Carlyle Group co-founder David Rubenstein, has raised $240M from wealthy individuals and family offices from the U.S., Middle East and Latin America for a new 10-year fund targeting the darlings of commercial real estate over the past few years, the firm announced.

The fund, in which Rubenstein personally invested, has already committed nearly half of its capital to properties, including a 333,500 SF warehouse in the Inland Empire city of Perris, California, through a joint venture, a more than 300-unit luxury apartment complex in Charlotte, North Carolina, and a student housing joint venture project in Pittsburgh, according to a release.

Declaration Partners is investing as the Federal Reserve Bank hikes interest rates to combat inflation and many economists warn that the U.S. is headed toward a recession. Before the higher rates took effect, investors poured $78B into apartment investments in Q2 and $32B into industrial and logistics, according to CBRE. 

“Wealthy families have had money for centuries, and they've only chosen to invest when they've had conviction and not out of some institutional pressure to allocate capital,” Declaration co-founder Todd Rich told Bloomberg. “Nobody roots for disruption. But the fact there has been disruption in the markets leads us to have some excitement about the near-term.”

Established in 2017 to invest Rubenstein's wealth, Declaration has some $2.5B in assets under management and more than 20 employees.

CORRECTION, OCT. 7, 10 A.M. ET: Declaration Partners was founded to invest Rubenstein's personal wealth, but a spokesperson said it is not a family office, as a previous version of this story indicated. This story has been updated.