Resolution Property is to launch a €1bn investment programme focused on providing equity to unlock stalled developments in the UK and Continental Europe.
Resolution is looking to use the remainder of its Resolution Real Estate Fund III to provide equity to bridge the debt funding gap on projects, working with the incumbent owners or developers as either joint-venture partners or development managers.
Top of Resolution’s UK target list are “good town centre locations with strong demographics and the potential to add value to shopping centre and leisure investments or support retail and mixed-use developments of a scale and quality to create new destinations”. Resolution is also actively pursuing office and residential projects in London and the South East.
Robert Wolstenholme, director at Resolution, said: “A typical UK project would require between £10m and £75m of equity to kick-start development. We can fund schemes to a point where they become financeable or in some cases provide 100% equity finance.”
Momentum for Resolution’s 2011-2012 strategy comes from projects like the £100m Brewery Square town centre development in Dorchester, Dorset, where work on the next major phase of the project started in February this year, following the formation of a development partnership with specialist developer Waterhouse in December 2010.
On the Continent, Resolution is targeting France, Germany, Poland and possibly Spain, Benelux and Scandinavia, for retail, office and selected mixed-use investments valued between €30m and €130m. The company may also look very selectively at major city markets in Central Europe as well as residential property.
Peter Todd, Director of Resolution, said: “Our investment in assets like the Waterfront shopping centre in Bremen and Galeria Pomorska in Poland illustrate how access to new equity can add value through refurbishment, extension and re-letting. The opportunity to add value or to kick-start completely new development will be central to our Continental investment strategy going forward.”
Wolstenholme and Todd will be attending MIPIM 2011 from 8 March to meet developers, development sponsors and banks to explore opportunities for mutually beneficial development partnerships.
paul.norman@estatesgazette.com
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