Baring Houston & Saunders hopes to have finalised details of a new £100m limited property investment partnership, to be called the Lionbrook Property Partnership, by July.
The new vehicle is being created from BH&S’s existing Lionbrook Property Fund (formerly the Swift and Lilliput property unit trusts) and the newly acquired New Court Property Fund, an authorised property unit trust with £31m under management. These unit trusts will become partners in the new vehicle, alongside new investors.
The partnership structure will enable non-tax exempt investors to benefit from the active management of the property unit trust vehicles, which themselves are limited to tax exempt investors such as pension funds and charities.
BH&S director Celia Jennings says the larger pool of funds will offer investors the benefits of diversification. She says marketing will target both domestic and overseas investors.
“The partnership structure enables us to diversify the unit holder base, creating more liquidity within the vehicle while the economies of scale mean we can do more with the cash under management,” she said.
The New Court Property Fund has been brought on board as part of Baring Houston & Saunders’s acquisition of Rothschild Asset Managment’s property division. The deal also covers two discretionary pension fund and one life fund management mandates, and two corporate occupational advisory clients, and gives BH&S control of funds worth £850m.
Tom King and Andrew Beaton of RAM are joining BH&S’s staff, with King offered a seat on the management board. They will continue to look after RAM’s pension fund clients, while BH&S’s Nicholas Cooper will have day-to-day responsibility for the enlarged partnership. He is currently manager of the Lionbrook funds.
EGi News 11/06/97
