A prominent U.S. commercial real estate lender with $18B under management is selling a majority stake in its operation to the Japanese insurance firm that helped it launch a decade ago.

Tokio Marine’s North American subsidiary, Delphi Financial Group, agreed to purchase the shares of San Francisco-based Acore Capital, the companies announced Tuesday morning.

In 2015, the firm helped get Acore off the ground with a $1.6B investment. Tokio Marine has regularly invested in the lender’s funds, which include senior and mezzanine loans across a variety of asset classes.

“Demand for commercial real estate credit products continues to grow, and I don’t see that slowing anytime soon,” Acore CEO Warren de Haan told PERE this week.

Commercial banks have reduced their share of lending on direct CRE deals, but he said they are eager to invest in alternative lending platforms like Acore.

“Scale like ours is even more important going forward,” de Haan said.

While Tokio Marine is no stranger to the sector, this is the first time it has acquired a full or partial stake in a CRE manager. The acquisition will come with boosted investment in Acore, which will continue to operate independently under de Haan’s leadership.

The deal comes after Acore last year raised $1.4B for its Credit Partners II fund, roughly 40% more than the firm was initially seeking.

Those funds came from a mix of investors, including U.S. pension plans, sovereign wealth funds, endowments and foundations, insurance companies and family offices.

In the wake of the pandemic, Acore dipped its toes back into the hospitality sector in 2021. It raised $1B for the industry, which was still recovering from the lockdowns that devastated it in 2020.