AXA Real Estate has closed its pan-European development fund, Development Venture III, after raising EUR 588.5 mln of total equity. The fund has so far invested in one prime office development project in London and three in Paris.

The fund, known as DVIII, aims to invest in green and brownfield sites as well as existing properties which require extensive redevelopment.

DVIII, which will have up to EUR 2.5bn of development capacity, attracted a broad range of investors comprising pension funds (54%), insurance companies (24%), sovereign wealth funds (14%) and funds of funds. Some 65% of the total equity was raised from investors in AXA Real Estate’s previous two development venture funds, which together have completed in excess of EUR 2.3bn of developments.

Laurent Vouin, head of opportunistic funds at AXA Real Estate, said to have raised ‘such a significant sum’ is an endorsement of both the team and the projects, ‘particularly considering the fact that we raised over EUR 350 mln in 2011, in challenging economic conditions’.

AXA Real Estate claims to be the leading real estate portfolio and asset manager in Europe, with over EUR 40bn of assets under management as at September 2011.