LCP first close raises £10m
London Central Portfolio’s third fund has completed a first close, raising £10m. The London Central Apartments fund, which will invest in prime central London residential property, has an equity target of £30m. The fund is the UK’s first Sharia-compliant residential fund, and aims to buy up to 50 assets.
Big Yellow tax challenge
Big Yellow is considering a legal challenge to the government’s plan to charge VAT on self-storage. Storage will no longer be exempt from VAT after 1 October, which has prompted Big Yellow’s valuer to reduce the group’s portfolio valuation by 6% to £778m. Any legal action would be launched after this date.
DPBB finances Daventry centre
Deutsche Pfandbriefbank has provided a £40m senior facility to finance a Northamptonshire logistics property for industrial developer Prologis. The transaction, which closed on 15 June, was for an 800,000 sq ft Daventry distribution centre let to Tesco on a 25-year lease owned by the Prologis European Properties Fund II.
Mount Street targets Invista
Private equity firm Mount Street Capital is considering making a bid for Invista Real Estate Investment Management. Last month Palmer Capital made a £39.7m offer for the fund manager, trumping an earlier bid by Internos Real Investments. Invista runs the Asian-focused Real Estate International Fund and the pan-European Real Estate Opportunity Fund.
Fresh Longbow debt fund
Longbow Real Estate Capital is to launch a successor debt fund to its Longbow Real Estate Debt Investments II, which raised £242m in September last year. That fund is understood to be almost fully invested after providing junior or stretched senior debt in a number of deals.
