The former UK head of real estate for Valad and Tesco’s UK property fund manager have launched a £200m investment vehicle targeting the secondary market.
Robert Howe and Darren Fennell have teamed up to form Cadence Real Estate Investment Management.
Helen Macrow, formerly head of asset management at Rushbond, where she was responsible for a £100m multi-sector investment portfolio, will work alongside them.
Howe said the trio were close to finalising agreements with a number of international institutional investors that would give Cadence firepower of £200m.
“We will be looking for value add and core-plus deals across all sectors,” he said. “We see ourselves investing in good secondary market assets across the UK.
“The market now needs companies with strong real estate investment and asset management backgrounds. The easy wins have gone and while there is still scope for yield compression, this has to be combined with good asset management.”
Cadence is expected to confirm the appointment of a non-executive chairman in the coming weeks.
Howe and Fennell moved into new offices in central London this week while Macrow will be based in Leeds, covering the North of England and Scotland. Between them they have transacted on more than £1bn of deals in the past 24 months.
Prior to joining Valad, Howe ran Green Property’s Northern operations. Fennell has also worked for the Guardian Pension Fund and was instrumental in the launch of TAP property investment and Scottish Widows’ small property fund.
