The co-founder of Carphone Warehouse and Morgan Stanley are injecting £500m of assets into a new property company called Kandahar Real Estate.
David Ross is transferring his £243m portfolio of high street shops, covering about 1m sq ft, into the new company.
The US investment bank has contributed Drake Circus, a 560,000 sq ft shopping centre in Plymouth worth about £250m.
Kandahar will seek to buy or develop more retail and leisure schemes across the UK. The eventual intention is to float the company on the stock market as a REIT.
The executive team of Kandahar includes Amanda Hill, former head of property at Carphone Warehouse.
References: Financial Times 13/11/06 page 21