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Akin Advises In a significant transaction marking continued momentum in the alternative investment space, Akin has advised Kennedy Lewis Investment Management on a $150 million strategic investment in Great Elm Group’s real estate platform. This deal highlights the growing institutional appetite for real estate-backed strategies and the increasing demand for diversified, yield-generating assets in today’s evolving market.
The investment will support Great Elm’s efforts to scale its real estate operations, expand its asset base, and capitalize on dislocation-driven opportunities in the commercial and healthcare sectors. For Kennedy Lewis, the move deepens its exposure to real asset strategies, while leveraging Great Elm’s operational expertise.
About the Deal
Kennedy Lewis, a credit-focused investment firm with a track record of opportunistic and structured investments, is providing $150 million in capital to Great Elm Group’s real estate platform. The capital will be deployed to acquire, manage, and reposition a diversified portfolio of income-producing properties—primarily in the healthcare, industrial, and mission-critical sectors.
This transaction gives Great Elm flexible growth capital to accelerate acquisitions and further develop its long-term, cash-flow-oriented real estate strategy. The investment structure includes preferred equity and other instruments that align both parties’ interests over the long term.
Why This Matters
The partnership between Kennedy Lewis and Great Elm underscores several key trends reshaping the real estate and private credit markets:
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Dislocation creates opportunity: With commercial real estate markets facing price resets and liquidity challenges, well-capitalized investors like Kennedy Lewis are positioned to step in with patient capital.
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Real estate as an inflation hedge: Income-producing properties with long-term leases offer investors durable cash flows and protection against inflation—a valuable trait in today’s macroeconomic environment.
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Convergence of credit and real assets: As traditional lending tightens, private capital is stepping in to provide hybrid equity-debt structures tailored to sponsor needs, as exemplified by this transaction.
Great Elm’s Growth Vision
Great Elm Group, a publicly traded alternative asset manager, has been expanding its real estate platform as a core pillar of its long-term strategy. With a focus on specialized sectors such as healthcare facilities, surgical centers, and logistics infrastructure, the firm targets properties with stable tenant bases and potential for operational enhancement.
This $150 million investment provides Great Elm with the capital and strategic backing needed to scale quickly. The firm plans to expand its geographic footprint, enter new verticals, and explore value-add opportunities across its existing portfolio.
Kennedy Lewis: A Strategic Capital Partner
Kennedy Lewis’s investment aligns with its broader strategy of identifying niche, credit-adjacent opportunities where structural complexity and market dislocation create attractive risk-adjusted returns. By backing Great Elm, Kennedy Lewis gains access to a specialized platform with deep real estate expertise, while maintaining downside protection through preferred equity structures.
According to market sources, Kennedy Lewis sees real estate as a long-term thematic play and is seeking more exposure to platforms with strong operational fundamentals and resilient asset classes.
Akin’s Role and Expertise
Akin served as legal counsel to Kennedy Lewis, advising on deal structuring, regulatory compliance, and investment terms. With its deep bench of attorneys experienced in private equity, structured finance, and real estate transactions, Akin played a central role in negotiating a flexible capital solution tailored to both parties.
The firm’s work on this transaction highlights its capabilities at the intersection of private capital and real assets—a space where legal sophistication is essential due to complex ownership structures, regulatory overlays, and multi-jurisdictional considerations.
Looking Ahead
Akin advises As institutional investors continue to pivot toward hard assets and credit alternatives, transactions like this one are likely to become more common. Strategic partnerships between capital providers like Kennedy Lewis and asset managers like Great Elm are reshaping how real estate is financed and scaled.
With legal guidance from Akin, this $150 million deal sets a strong foundation for long-term growth—and signals continued institutional confidence in real estate as a durable and adaptable asset class.
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