New fund management mandate for investment in UK

RNS Number : 1909U

First Property Group PLC

16 January 2017

 

Date:	16 January 2017
On behalf of:	First Property Group plc ("First Property", "the Company" or the "Group")
Embargoed:	0700hrs

First Property Group plc

New fund management mandate for investment in UK

First Property Group plc (AIM: FPO), the property fund manager and investor, is pleased to announce that it has, in association with Christ Church, Oxford, St Catherine's College, Oxford, and Robinson College, Cambridge, established a new fund, Fprop UK Special Opportunities LP, to invest in commercial property in the United Kingdom. Equity commitments made by the colleges to the fund amount to £14.5 million. In addition First Property has made a commitment of £725,000.

Investments by the fund may be leveraged, with a maximum loan amount of 50% of the value of the investments. The fund therefore has a total buying power of just over £30 million. First Property Group will earn annual fees from the new fund calculated by reference to the value of the properties under management.

Commenting on the new fund, Ben Habib, Chief Executive, said:

"We are delighted to announce the establishment of Fprop UK Special Opportunities LP on behalf of a group of Oxford and Cambridge colleges. The fact they have chosen to partner with us in this endeavour is testament, amongst other things, to the excellent track record of the Group.

"The fund aims to invest in higher yielding commercial property investments with development angles or other ways in which to enhance value. The economy of the UK is robust and we anticipate that this strategy will yield healthy returns for its investors. The establishment of this fund, so shortly after our recent announcement on SIPS, illustrates the momentum building within our fund management division."

-Ends-

For further information please contact:

First Property Group plc	Tel: [phone]
Ben Habib (Chief Executive Officer) George Digby (Group Finance Director) Jeremy Barkes (Director, Business Development)	www.fprop.com [e-mail]
Arden Partners (NOMAD & Broker)	Tel: + 44 (20) 7614 5900
Chris Hardie (Director, Corporate Finance) Ben Cryer (Corporate Finance)
Redleaf Communications (PR)	Tel:+ 44 (20) 7382 4734
Rebecca Sanders-Hewett / Henry Columbine / Susie Hudson	[e-mail]

Notes to Investors and Editors:

First Property Group plc is an award winning property fund manager and investor with operations in the United Kingdom and Central Europe. Around one third of the shares in the Company are owned by management and their families.

Its focus is on higher yielding commercial property with sustainable cash flows. The company is flexible and takes an active approach to asset management. Its earnings are derived from:

·     Fund management - via its FCA regulated and AIFMD approved subsidiary, First Property Asset Management Ltd (FPAM), which earns fees from investing for third parties in property. FPAM currently manages nine funds which are invested across the United Kingdom, Poland and Romania. FPAM funds rank No.1 versus MSCI's Investment Property Databank (IPD) Central & Eastern Europe (CEE) universe for the ten years from the commencement of its operations in Poland in 2005 to 31 December 2015, and for the annualised periods from 2005 to the end of each of the years between 31 December 2008 and 31 December 2015.

·    Group Properties - principal investments by the Group, to earn a return on its own capital, usually in partnership with third parties. Investments include eleven directly held properties in Poland and Romania (including five held by Fprop Opportunities plc [FOP], in which the Group is currently the majority shareholder), and interests in six other funds managed by FPAM.

Listed on AIM the Company has offices in London and Warsaw. Further information about the Company and its products can be found at: www.fprop.com.

 

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