“I set up what is now Helix with the backing of an Irish guy called Tony Kilduff,” says chief executive Robin Fell. “He’d made a lot of money in software and had approached me to come and work for him because he wanted to invest in the UK property market. Of course, we were called Cheval back then. Why? Well, the joke always was that he thought he was hung like horse.”
And that is a classic opening gambit from Fell. It may sound like he is fooling around. But it is this sense of humour and a light, friendly and sometimes cheeky manner that has seen him – and his team at Helix – win work through building relationships. Almost without exception.
Indeed, Fell says this has meant that the business has only ever pitched for work once. That was back in 2012 when it took over the mandate to manage the Daily Mail’s pension trust from Cluttons.
From humble beginnings with a £5m-6m portfolio back in 1996, Helix now manages more than £4.5bn of property for some of the world’s wealthiest and most secretive private investors. And the portfolio keeps growing.
In an age when conflicts of interest are becoming increasingly prevalent across the big agents, Fell and his team say their business as a pure property and asset manager is reaping the rewards. Over the space of just a few weeks, they say proudly, the firm has nabbed more than half a billion pounds of assets from one of its biggest rivals, including EG’s headquarters at 110 High Holborn, WC1.
But back to the beginning. After 18 years at Gooch & Wagstaff, becoming an equity partner at just 29, Fell decided to set up on his own. So in 1996, Helix – or Cheval as it was then known – was born.
In its first guise, Helix was an office developer and built out 30-40 schemes around the M25, in places such as Staines, Egham and Tunbridge Wells. But then it bought its first portfolio and Fell went back to Gooch & Wagstaff to hire someone to run the portfolio. That someone was Rick Slater. The pair have now worked together for more than 30 years. “Quite a lot of people have been married fewer years than us,” jokes head of property management Slater.
Once Slater was on board, the business started to grow. Mostly, through Fell’s friendships. The first and, initially at least, most lucrative of those was with Lochlann Quinn, chairman of Allied Irish Bank and co-owner of heating company Dimplex. Quinn initially became an investor, helping Helix buy another portfolio. But the real growth of business came when the Quinn relationship led to an introduction to AIB and the subsequent running of six of its Belfry funds. Combined, the funds had a value of around €1bn (£700m). Helix exited the first at the end of 2006. Then the global financial crash ensured life in Ireland, especially for AIB and investors in the Belfry funds, became less than pleasant.
“But,” says Fell, “while the Irish business was going out the window, we were growing in the other direction.”
That other direction was doing management work for private clients. After Quinn came Johnny Dumfries, an F1 racing driver and the 7th Marquis of Bute, then came Qatari, Saudi, Indian and other wealthy investors looking for someone to help them though the lifecycle of property ownership.
In building the relationships, you can release a lot of value in a building. If tenants feel that they have been valued, it makes a huge difference
“Invariably we get introduced to clients through the banks,” says Fell. “We really hold the bank’s hand and the client’s hand all the way through the acquisition process. Then, once completion has taken place, we put our own team into the property and take over running everything for them and advise on who to bring in for rent reviews, structural work etc. We do all the rent collection, running the property and we can do the company accounting, VAT returns, and so on. The overseas guys like that. It is a complete one-stop shop. Everyone is in the same place so it makes it a lot more manageable and that is what really sets us apart from everybody else.”
What also sets Helix apart from much of the rest of the industry is its diversity. Walk into its offices in London’s Mayfair and, rightly or wrongly, you can’t help but notice it is a workforce made up predominantly of women.
Yvonne Smith, director of property and asset management, who has worked at Helix for more than a decade, says the 50:50 board is a real shock to a lot of people, but at Helix it is not something that even registers. It just is.
“We’ve all employed someone here that we’ve worked with before, or a friend, so I think that’s how we’ve got to such a high female quota,” she says.
“Not only do we get to hire women, but we get to keep them,” adds Angela Duru, a fellow director of property and asset management. “There is a culture shift that you have to make if you want to keep women in high positions. That’s not to say it is some outreach programme… it does actually produce profitability.”
And Duru does not mean that women deal with clients differently – she means continuity in staff pays dividends with clients. The greater the sense of security they have, the more likely they are to entrust their biggest assets to you. There is that relationship building again.
“A lot of people don’t regard the relationship as key to success,” says Slater. “But in building the relationship, you can release a lot of value in a building. Come lease event, if that tenants feel that they have been valued and their comments and thoughts about the running of the building have been taken on board, it makes a huge difference.”
“We help our clients along the way,” adds director Amy Soar. “They tend to be private individuals who don’t necessarily understand property. We are steering the clients so it is a little bit more hand-holding than day-to-day property management. The clients themselves don’t often want to be involved. It is just an asset to them. They want income or an uplift in value so we do the work and are the face for that client. It allows us to get a lot more involved in buildings and strategy.”
But it is just property management. The part of the industry that, alongside building surveying, is viewed by most graduates as a dead end.
“Building surveying and property management are the departments you want to pass through,” says Slater. “We all want to be agents and make lots of money, don’t we?”
Duru disagrees: “Property management is a discipline where you get to see and do everything,” she says. “You can be as involved or as uninvolved as you want. You get to understand valuation, you get to understand investment, due diligence. This is the point where you get to dip your toes into every single area of real estate. You are not always necessarily practising but you have to have an understanding.
“There is nothing we don’t get to see, that we don’t get to be involved in and we don’t get to understand. There is no opportunity to get bored. There is no day where something new doesn’t come up and I don’t think, ‘Ooh, I haven’t dealt with that before.’”
And after almost 40 years in the business, Fell refuses to get bored too. “I’m 59 now and I will probably stay in the business for another 10 years,” says Fell. “Then one of the kids will come in. I just enjoy it, dealing with people. It is a people business. It’s like a family thing. We are all horrid to each other but it just works and I enjoy it. I’d be bored stiff.”
Oh, and the real reason for the original Cheval name? Just prior to the launch of the business, Kilduff had bought himself a bronze horse’s head.
Portfolio
Helix manages more than £4.5bn of property across the UK. Trophy assets in the portfolio include:
Port of Liverpool Building, Liverpool
Alaska Developments
Alongside its property management, in January Helix bought out its development partner Alaska Developments. Helix chief executive Robin Fell said the acquisition was complementary to the asset management business as many of its clients were already using Alaska for their development plans. Schemes being undertaken by the business include the 90,000 sq ft Hobhouse Court, SW1, just off Trafalgar Square, and the 267-bedroom Print Hall student housing block in Bristol.
The team
Robin Fell, chief executive
After 18 years at Gooch & Wagstaff, Fell left to found what would become Helix. He privately owns the business, which now has more than £4.5bn of assets under management
Rick Slater, head of property management
A self-proclaimed Mr Fix It, Slater offers Helix staff members insights from his almost 30 years in the business. He also began his career at Gooch & Wagstaff
Yvonne Smith, director of property and asset management
A chartered surveyor with more than 30 years’ experience. Smith has been at Helix since 2005
Angela Duru, director of property and asset management
A chartered surveyor and law graduate, Duru joined Helix in 2013
David Callum, financial director
A chartered accountant with more than 15 years’ experience, Callum has been at Helix since 2005
Amy Soar, director of property and asset management
A chartered surveyor with 10 years’ experience, Soar joined Helix in 2013
