Starwood's $10B Property Fund Sharply Limits Withdrawals

Manhattan office buildings

As liquidity slows and investors continue to ring alarm bells, Starwood Capital Group's $10B nontraded REIT has placed new restrictions on the money shareholders can pull out.

The new restrictions consist of a monthly withdrawal cap at 0.33% of net asset value, well below its previous 2% limit, and the firm will cut its management fees. The firm expects these measures to stay in place for the Starwood Real Estate Income Trust for six to 12 months, Bloomberg reported.

Starwood CEO Barry Sternlicht ensured investors that the restrictions were the best decision for the fund as it continues to wait out the difficult market.

"By not selling a meaningful number of real estate assets into this market and temporarily amending the share repurchase plan, we believe we are making the best decision to protect and maximize value for SREIT’s existing stockholders," Sternlicht wrote in a letter Thursday.

Sternlicht said that approximately 80% of SREIT's stockholders, or 45,000 investors, have never requested redemptions. He said requests were down from January 2023 but are still above the monthly and quarterly limits.

But sentiment around interest rates has drastically changed since the beginning of the year as inflation has pushed back the market's expectations for when the Fed will begin cutting rates.

Earlier this month, the nontraded REIT's problems became more clear when the Financial Times reported that its $1.6B line of credit had only $225M left.

The fund began limiting redemptions at the start of 2022 as interest rates began spiking.

Other nontraded REITs have also run into issues with investors looking to pull money out. The $60B Blackstone Real Estate Income Trust was one of the first to limit redemptions in 2022. However, in February it allowed investors to repurchase all $961M of the share requests.

Continue reading this story with a free account

Log in or register
Sign up for more articles like this
Subscribe to Bisnow's National Newsletters
Related Stories

Why Hines Is Restarting Its Development Engine

How Integrated Infrastructure Can Help AI Data Centers Deploy Faster, Build Smarter

Nvidia Buys Stake In Data Center Power Company

Invesco Cuts Fees, Adds Incentives To Quell Fund Redemption Requests

Investors Anchor Big Capital Into Marinas, Betting On Shallow Supply

NYC Office Investor Warns It Could Go Under As Defaults Pile Up

Pinewood Studios Pays Owners £100M Dividend And Completes £300M Refinancing

Nike Closes 15 Stores Amid Tumultuous Year

Large Commercial Real Estate Sales Up 30% Despite Economic Headwinds

Evergrande Founder Sentenced To Life, 56 Others Sent To Prison In China

Loud And Clear: Why Aiphone Thinks Intercom Ownership Is Best For Multitenant Buildings

Coconut Grove Office Flipped For $15M Gain After One Year