Harrison Street Acquires RoundShield to Expand in Europe - InforCapital

Chicago, Toronto, Geneva, London – August 3, 2025 – In a strategic move to broaden its European footprint, Harrison Street Asset Management has acquired a 60% stake in RoundShield Partners, a leading European credit investment firm managing over $5.4 billion in assets. This acquisition significantly enhances Harrison Street’s presence in real estate credit, student housing, and hospitality investment strategies.

RoundShield, headquartered in Jersey and with offices in Geneva, London, Madrid, and Munich, delivers strong risk‑adjusted returns through opportunistic credit and structured equity. Since its founding in 2013, it has served a diverse global investor base including pensions, insurers, foundations and family offices.

With the remaining 40% stake retained by RoundShield’s senior management team, who will continue to lead the firm, the partnership will focus on scaling operations and leveraging shared expertise—especially in expanding their vertically integrated student housing platforms across Europe.

Christopher Merrill, CEO of Harrison Street, described the deal as a “pivotal step,” adding depth to Harrison Street’s European credit platform and opening new avenues for innovation. RoundShield founder Driss Benkirane called the partnership a “natural evolution,” noting that Harrison Street’s global reach will help fast‑track growth.

The move reflects a broader industry trend: in early 2023, Nuveen (TIAA) acquired a controlling interest in Arcmont Asset Management, a European private debt specialist with over $21 billion in committed capital. That transaction created Nuveen Private Capital, one of the largest global private credit platforms with some $66 billion in committed capital working alongside Churchill Asset Management. Arcmont has since raised more than $26 billion across more than 270 transactions in Europe.

Meanwhile, Blackstone has launched major European credit initiatives, deploying around $10 billion across 40 deals in 2024 and targeting as much as $200 billion in European credit opportunities over the next decade. The firm also plans to invest up to $500 billion into Europe across infrastructure, private credit, logistics and digital assets over the next ten years.

These deals underscore the rise of private credit as a mainstream asset class: European private credit AUM surged from about $37 billion in 2008 to nearly $476 billion by September 2024 as banks retreated from lending. Investors such as Ares, Apollo, Arcmont, Park Square, Hayfin and Blackstone have stepped in to fill the gap. This trend is being supported further by partnerships from major banks like UBS, Citi and Lazard to distribute private credit products.

With Harrison Street’s global platform and RoundShield’s deep European expertise, the combined entity is well positioned to deliver innovative credit, student housing and hospitality investment strategies to both institutional and private investors worldwide.