US giant’s real estate arm to acquire majority stake in $9bn Spanish manager, part of a broader push into European real assets
Franklin Templeton has agreed to acquire a majority stake in Stoneshield Capital through its real estate subsidiary Clarion Partners, in a deal that will triple Clarion’s European assets under management to $13bn (about £9.6bn). The transaction takes Clarion’s global AUM to $82bn, a 12% rise, and pushes Franklin Templeton’s total alternatives book past $300bn (roughly £222bn).
Stoneshield is a Madrid-based sector specialist with around $9bn (about £6.6bn) under management, built around supply-constrained real asset themes: living and student housing, digital infrastructure, science and innovation, hospitality and critical infrastructure. Its holdings include stakes in MiCampus, one of Europe’s largest purpose-built student accommodation platforms, alongside positions in renewable energy developer Solaria, fuels infrastructure operator Exolum, Spanish homebuilder Neinor Homes and hotel group Meliá.
David Gilbert, chief executive of Clarion Partners, said the acquisition marked “an important milestone” in building an integrated real assets platform across Europe, calling Stoneshield’s high-yield, special-situations focus “a perfect complement” to Clarion’s existing logistics and net-lease business. Franklin Templeton chief executive Jenny Johnson said the deal formed part of a wider strategy to globalise the firm’s real assets capabilities and expand its private markets offering.
Stoneshield’s co-founders, Juan Pepa and Felipe Morenés, will stay on to lead the business, retaining control of investment strategy and day-to-day operations while working with the wider Clarion and Franklin Templeton platform on new products for institutional and wealth clients. The firm will become Clarion’s dedicated opportunistic investment platform in Europe, keeping its offices in Spain, Portugal, Ireland, the UK and Luxembourg intact.
For UK wealth managers, the deal is notable less for its size than for what it signals about where the large US alternatives houses are placing their bets. Franklin Templeton’s alternatives arm has been building out private markets access for wealth and institutional clients on both sides of the Atlantic, and a platform spanning student housing, digital infrastructure and critical energy assets gives UK advisers and DFMs another route into real asset exposure as demand for income-generating alternatives continues to grow among private clients.
The transaction, advised on Stoneshield’s side by Goldman Sachs International, is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2026, subject to customary conditions and regulatory filings. Financial terms were not disclosed.
