Places for People’s asset management arm PfP Capital is exploring new strategies to attract finance for its £550m build-to-rent fund which launched last March.
Chief executive David Cowans said: “We have not raised the money yet because we are getting a lot of investor feedback, which means that our plans are continuing to evolve.”
Cowans said investors had told them they wanted to see specific schemes and added that PfP would seek to “value engineer” the seed portfolio to get properties built.
He said: “One possibility is for the fund to be seeded with existing properties; another possibility is for us to develop specific schemes which the fund could then acquire.”
“We would design properties that specifically meet investor appetite or we could buy completed properties that already fit the bill.
“I’m in no great hurry about this because I think it’s more important to get it right.”
The fund, headed by Alex Notay (pictured above with Cowans), launched in March 2018. It was seeded with three schemes in Glasgow, Chesterfield and Birmingham valued at £150m and forward-funded through a special purpose vehicle.
At the time, PfP said it would seek to raise capital to deliver 3,000 homes across six to eight schemes in regional towns and cities through long-term finance.
Cowans added: “It is a relatively new asset class, there are some people who doubt its veracity. We believe in it, but we need to work through the details.”
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