Almanac Realty Investors names new partner – exclusive

Almanac Realty Investors has promoted Josh Overbay to partner and named him a member of its investment committee, PERE has learned.

Overbay has led investor relations and capital raising as a managing director at Almanac. His promotion comes after the New York-based manager’s most recent vehicle, Almanac Realty Securities VIII, closed on more than $1.9 billion last year, surpassing its $1.5 billion target. He also helped secure an additional $360 million in co-investment capital for the fund.

ARS VIII is the firm’s second record-setting fundraise since Overbay was hired in 2014. Its predecessor, ARS VII, was Almanac’s first to crack the billion-dollar mark, totaling $1.4 billion between the primary fund and co-invest sidecars.

Almanac managing partner Matthew Kaplan praised Overbay’s business sense and commitment to company culture, along with his capital raising acumen. As the firm’s fifth partner and investment committee member, Overbay will help oversee the continued growth of the firm, which has added roughly $4 billion of assets under management since 2014 and doubled its staff in recent years.

“We plan to take advantage of the investment opportunities in the marketplace, which are a lot more fulsome than we’ve ever seen,” Kaplan said. “Doing that requires capital, it requires investment committee members, it requires being out in the market transacting, introducing ourselves to folks, all of which [Overbay] is going to be involved in.”

A real estate veteran with more than a decade of experience in the private fund industry, Overbay joined Almanac in 2014 after a four-year stint in Lazard’s private fund advisory group. Before that, he was vice-president of Perseus Realty Partners, a Washington, DC-based investment and development firm.

Overbay said he joined Almanac at “an inflection point” in its history. Founded in 1981 as part of Rothschild and spun out in 2007, the firm has grown significantly in recent years, raising more than $3.9 billion and growing its staff from 15 to 30 employees since 2014. He credits this growth to increasing interest in entity-level real estate investment and an industry-wide embrace of co-investment, which has been a staple of the group for roughly a decade.

“We feel like the world is coming our way,” Overbay said. “There is a greater appreciation today for the opportunity to build a fully integrated real estate platform rather than simply choosing between raising capital on a deal-by-deal basis or in a commingled fund format as the only two paths for growth and success. Our portfolio companies view Almanac as a true partner in their businesses, offering both significant financial and intellectual capital.”

Moving forward, Overbay aims to expand the firm’s fundraising reach to global investors. He also plans to continue improving the Almanac roster by hiring young associates, developing their talents and promoting from within.

“Almanac has always preferred to grow talent from within,” he said. “That means hiring high quality individuals with more of their career in front of them than behind them, immersing them in every facet of our business, providing guidance and mentorship with the aim of giving people a real opportunity to be the future leaders of the firm.”