Jumpstart Capital Partners, the US-based investment manager that caters to high net worth and institutional clients, has launched a new platform that targets opportunities in Australia and New Zealand.

Jumpstart Equity Partners will give investors access to pre-qualified real estate investment deals outside of the US through a model that combines direct investment and a professionally managed fund, the company said in a statement. It will initially target distressed and undervalued realty investments in select areas in Australia and New Zealand.

"Fundamentally stable real estate markets, such as Australia and New Zealand, still continue to experience liquidity constraints especially in the private sector, sustaining quality deal flow and limiting competition, which is extremely opportunistic from an investment perspective. We have formed a regional management and advisory team to lead this business," said Jason M Neal, chief executive of Jumpstart.

Domestic real estate in the US and Europe has seen intensifying competition over a few quality assets over the past years, with the political and economic uncertainty in those regions not making the environment any easier to deal with. Investors, as a result, are more interested to deploy capital offshore.

The Australian operation will be based in Sydney. The unit will concentrate on distressed debt, mezzanine loans, preferred equity, and joint venture equity investments worth between $10 million and $50 million. The objective, the firm said, is to achieve an internal return rate per investment of at least 15 per cent over three to five years.