John Beckwith has emerged as the mastermind behind a £130m deal to acquire the entire UK property assets of Colonial Mutual. Through his company Portfolio Holdings, Beckwith has assembled a consortium made up of GE Capital, the US finance house, Apollo Real Estate Investment and Pelham Partners.
All of the partners have taken an equity stake in the consortium with GE Capital playing an additional role in providing debt finance for the acquisition.
The deal is understood to bring Portfolio Holdings a step closer to an early stock market flotation. Portfolio was advised by Healey & Baker.
- The Sunday Business 06/10/96 page 5
