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Paul Eklund, a partner in the firm’s Real Estate Fund practice, published “Sweetening the pot for investors in real estate funds” in the Boston Business Journal on January 15. The article notes that 2009 was a difficult year for real estate funds trying to raise money, with funds raising just $40 billion compared to $100 billion in 2008. Paul notes that in such an investor’s market, funds that seek to raise money may need to rethink some of the terms of their proposed fund to sweeten the pot for investors. Some ideas to do so include increasing the promoter’s co-investment amount, therefore the investor is not the only one hurt if an investment goes sour, ensuring there are no conflicts of interest between the fund and the promoter, and offering more control over investment decisions and the amount of debt the fund incurs. Paul points out that investors are more likely to invest in narrowly defined, niche-type funds, and in funds in which investments are actually identified.