Jamestown raises $572m for latest US fund from German investors

The Cologne-based closed end fund initiator Jamestown is reaping the benefits of its extraordinarily successful track record of investing German money into the United States. Its latest fund, Jamestown 30, wrapped up its closing at the end of December 2017 with US$572m, of which $372m alone was raised last year.

Nearly 10,000 private investors have committed equity to the fund, making it the largest fund in the company's history, and is a testimony to the success of Jamestown in investing in the US since 1983, and to its founder and leading spirit Christoph Kahl.

No investor has ever lost money with a Jamestown fund, and Kahl and his US management team have shown a Midas touch in knowing when to enter and exit the market. Jamestown sold nearly all of its US holdings just prior to the market crash in 2008 in an example of remarkable timing and intimate market knowledge.

Jamestown 30 is kicking off in the US with imminent purchases of six properties in New York, Washington, Atlanta, South Florida and Pittsburgh, with a transaction volume of $216m. The fund is targeting an annual pre-tax yield of 4%, appreciation after disposals of 10%, and a 7-12 year lifespan. The minimum investment is $30,000.

It successor fund, Jamestown 31, is already scheduled to launch in the second half of the year. Last year Jamestown closed its Jamestown Fund 28 which had raised $384m, and said its 7,500 investors had earned an average of pretax 10.21% annually over the three year duration of the fund from capital appreciation and annual dividends.

Jamestown has 180 staff in the US and 40 in its head office in Cologne. The company currently owns and manages $11.2bn of real estate assets in the US on behalf of 22,000 investors across six closed-end mutual funds.