Property firm plans a £200m London venture
LONDON & STAMFORD, the property firm run by real estate veterans Patrick Vaughan and Raymond Mould, is to set up a £200m venture with two sovereign fund partners to buy homes in central London.
The company will own 40 per cent of the venture, while Middle Eastern partner Green Park Investments and a second unidentified investor will own 30 per cent each.
Prime London home prices have surged to record levels since 2008 as economic uncertainty overseas has turned the capital into a favourite destination for investors seeking a safe place to store their wealth.
L&S, which already owns 266 flats in areas like Islington and Battersea, said it was close to buying £150m of properties for the new venture and is also in talks with undisclosed banks over loans for making the purchases.
The venture would become its main vehicle for investing residential assets and may sell some of its existing schemes as a result.
L&S announced the plans as it reported a 5.25 per cent drop in net asset value 119p a share and a 60 per cent increase in underlying profit for the year to 31 March.
The firm said it now has a war chest of £900m to spend with £300m of investments currently under offer.
“This puts London & Stamford in a very strong position in a market which we believe is offering increasingly exciting opportunities for investment in good quality assets with good covenants at reasonable prices,” Mould, chairman, said.
L&S said “it continues to explore a disposal” of its 15.7 per cent stake in the Meadowhall shopping mall in Sheffield it co-owns with British Land.