Heron International has been active in Europe since 1965, with an ambitious development programme and an investment portfolio of around £500m
Heron International, which was founded by property tycoon Gerald Ronson, operates in UK, Spain, France, Portugal, Sweden and Switzerland in the office, retail, residential and leisure sectors.
In 1995, the controlling interests of Heron International were sold to HNV Acquisition, a group of influential US investors. Little is known about the individuals behind HNV but they are thought to include telecoms tycoon Craig McCaw and media magnate Rupert Murdoch.
At present, the company has two main focuses: leisure schemes across Europe and central London office development. For the time being, it has chosen to withdraw from office development in continental Europe, because it sees its two target markets as having the most growth potential.
Peter Ferrari, who is responsible for group development at Heron, says that on the leisure size it aims to become a £1bn player in five years, developing up to 20 schemes across Europe. Ferrari is keen to combine its leisure work in the UK with US trends to give Europe the latest generation of leisure schemes.
“Our concept is to build big centres where there is lots of choice and large scale facilities,” he says. This could include health and fitness centres, branded restaurants and family entertainment centres. He adds that it is important that the centres are a local attraction rather than just a tourist destination. The schemes will be between 23,225m2 and 37,160m2 with an investment by the company of between £30m and £50m each.
It has started its leisure push with two imaginative schemes in Madrid and Barcelona.
Its Los Rozas scheme just north-west of Madrid will provide 22,671m2 of entertainment and retail including a 24-screen AMC mulitplex, a 3,614m2 family entertainment centre and 2,671 of specialist retail stores.
On an adjacent site Value Retail is developing a 17,500m2 factory outlet centre. The two companies worked together to put forward a joint planning application.
For the centre in north west Barcelona, it is working with Catalan developer Layatana on a site known as Renfe Meridiana. Heron will not replicate its schemes across Europe, instead it will use different design themes in each centre to suit the location.
The leisure push, however, has not interfered with its other activities in the office sector in London. In one of the UK’s biggest deals in 1998, Heron paid around £220m for five properties from Degi’s portfolio.
The company has also just completed the 3,158m2 six-storey Heron House office building and three other developments in London – Procession House, Fleet Place House and 60 Queen Victoria Street – will be finished in 1999. Its office development programme will soon provide 37,160m2 with a value of £250m.
Its development portfolio is split quite evenly between the two sectors, but Ferrari predicts that leisure will soon outpace the office development programme.
Financial highlights
|
Year ended (£m) |
31/12/97 |
31/12/96 |
|
Turnover |
26.2 |
23.2 |
|
Net rental income |
12.3 |
7.4 |
|
Pre-tax profit |
21.9 |
22.8 |
|
Profit |
22.1 |
25.7 |
Heron International
Heron House
19 Marylebone Road
London NW1 5JL
tel 44 171 486 4477
fax 44 171 486 0098
