StepStone Bolsters Real Estate Investments with UBS Vet, Launches S-Core Platform
Event summary
- StepStone Real Estate (SRE) hired Jennifer Jones, formerly Senior Portfolio Manager at UBS, as a Partner.
- Jones oversaw over $20 billion in transactions at UBS and previously led UBS’s Global Core Plus vehicle for US investors.
- SRE launched S-Core, a new global Core/Core+ real estate investment platform.
- S-Core will utilize a mix of secondaries, co-investments, tactical operating company investments, and primary fund commitments.
- SRE allocated over $17 billion to real estate investments globally in 2025.
The big picture
StepStone’s creation of S-Core represents a strategic shift towards expanding its Core/Core+ real estate investment activities, capitalizing on investor preference for lower-volatility assets. The hiring of Jennifer Jones, with her extensive experience at UBS, signals a commitment to scaling this platform and leveraging a deep network to secure deals. This move aligns with a broader trend of private equity firms seeking to offer customized investment solutions and capitalize on market dislocations.
What we're watching
- Execution Risk
- The success of S-Core hinges on Jones’s ability to leverage her UBS experience and SRE’s existing market intelligence to source and manage deals effectively, particularly in a potentially volatile real estate market.
- Investor Appetite
- Whether the increased focus on Core/Core+ real estate, driven by investor demand for stability after recent market volatility, can sustain S-Core’s growth and justify the platform’s structure remains to be seen.
- Competitive Landscape
- How S-Core’s strategy of leveraging secondaries and co-investments will differentiate it from other private real estate platforms and impact SRE’s overall deal flow needs to be monitored.
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