Orion CM turns counter-cyclical gaze to acquisitions

The private equity group Orion Capital Managers, which recently bought a 7% stake in one of the largest French REITs, is starting to come back into the market as a buyer after two or three years hiatus, and has assembled around e1bn in equity with a third European investment fund, says its director of funds financing. Marc Angelier told PIE that the counter-cyclical and opportunistic nature of Orion means one of the main focuses for the new fund will be Spain. However Orion, founded in 1999, looks at the entire spectrum of real estate asset classes and opportunities in western, northern and southern Europe, though it has been most active so far in France, UK and Italy. "We try to look at all asset classes and all countries where we think that there is going to be some movement of some kind, and then we try to see how we can exploit this with investment," he said. "We are interested in everything that touches the real estate space, whatever class of asset it is."