February 25, 2011
Chester Properties has teamed up with Delancey to launch a £250 million investment drive targeting ‘value add’ opportunities in the UK commercial property sector.
Chester, run by Jamie Hopkins and Tom Tyler, will look to take advantage of the current distress in the secondary property market and believes now is the appropriate timing for suitable buying opportunities to emerge. The investment focus will be opportunistic across all sectors and active management capability will be as important as strategic stock selection in order to produce returns.
Delancey and the Chester management team have committed fresh equity to the joint venture and will look to gear up through the use of bank debt as well as continue Chester’s model of partnering with third party equity where appropriate.
Chester’s director, Jamie Hopkins, is well known to Delancey having worked at the company between 1998 and 2002. Jamie then went on to head up Mapeley, a property company in which Delancey were one of the founding shareholders.
Jamie Hopkins says: “This is an important and exciting step in the evolution of Chester and we see Delancey as a highly regarded and committed long term partner. We have a strong relationship with Delancey and this venture will enable us to leverage our skill base and operational platform and take advantage of the current market opportunity.”
Jamie Ritblat adds: “We have a successful track record in partnering with complimentary and specialist property managers in order to drive returns and very much look forward to working with the Chester team in these exciting times”
Ends –
