There’s hardly a major deal in the West Midlands this year that hasn’t had Warwickshire-based IM Properties’ name attached to it somewhere along the line.
Whether it’s the £130m acquisition of Blythe Valley Park, the £33.5m purchase of the prime 55 Colmore Row or the 780,000 sq ft prelet to Euro Car Parts at Tamworth, IM is one of the most active and acquisitive companies in the region.
One well-known Birmingham agent says: “People want to work with them. They have a progressive outlook, are quick, persistent and refreshing. IM are using their Birmingham knowledge to their advantage. It’s exciting.”
Headed by 41-year-old managing director and father of two Tim Wooldridge, IM Properties is one of the UK’s largest privately owned property companies, with £1bn of property owned and under management within the UK, Europe and the US.
The firm is part of Lord Bob Edmiston’s IM Group, which was established in 1987. The IM Group made its money by importing cars from the Far East and then ploughed those considerable funds into long-term property holds.
The strategy has worked well. Of late the firm has rebalanced its investment portfolio towards high-quality prime and institutional assets and this year has also pulled development into sharp focus by significantly enhancing its development pipeline.
Dynamic, fleet of foot and with strong financial muscle (the three main backers are RBS, Handelsbanken and Lloyds Banking Group), IM is a force to be reckoned with. Strategic acquisitions of schemes with significant development opportunities have taken centre stage, such as the ones listed above (see also box, this page), meaning the development pipeline will expand next year and beyond.
Wooldridge is flanked by his senior management team, including development director Kevin Ashfield (40)and UK investment director John Hammond (36). He insists that, as chairman, Lord Bob takes a hands-off approach on day-to-day matters and the three effectively work as one when it comes to evaluating opportunities.
Sitting in Birmingham’s chic Hotel du Vin, the easy banter between them is infectious. They are colleagues yes, but also friends – and it shows. The ‘work hard, play hard’ ethos appears to be working well.
“The company has evolved from being an investment arm for the group, into its most profitable part and is now a progressive investment and development vehicle with much more emphasis on development than there ever has been in the past,” says Wooldridge.
The firm’s focus for future development is split 50:50 between the Midlands and the South East. It already owns 1,500 acres of development land, but Ashfield says: “We’re in talks to probably increase this up to 2,000 acres by the end of this year. The next obvious spot for development is Pedimore in Sutton Coldfield. We have 170 acres of land there for industrial/logistics uses and would like to get more under our control.”
Adding value to chunky office buys is also on the agenda, such as the purchase in June of the 136,000 sq ft Birmingham block at 55 Colmore Row. Hammond explains: “The timing was right for us and it ticked a lot of boxes. There’s a lag on new builds that can come forward and a shortage of grade A stock, so we can take advantage of this by using the existing consent and refurbishing the building and adding a 20,000 sq ft extension on top.”
IM will spend around £28m on the project and aims to deliver the new 160,000 sq ft scheme in mid-2016, when little other high-quality space will be available, but the ‘IM three’ won’t be drawn on whether the company will sell the asset at that time.
This autumn the firm swooped in on another big office deal, this time paying circa £130m for the 275-acre Blythe Valley Park close to junction 4 of the M42 in an off-market deal. The trio remain tight-lipped about the purchase and will not confirm details, but talking to IM about its wider strategy it’s clear the park fits comfortably in to the ‘development opportunity’ box with 90 acres of development land, some of which might come forward speculatively. The deal is due to sign imminently.
So what’s next for IM Properties?
More investment, yes. More development – absolutely – residential (see box below), industrial and mixed-use being the focus. IM has invested heavily in Solihull, with its schemes at Mell Square, Solihull business park and Fore business park. IM also hopes to get on board with any HS2 development in the town linked to the interchange station at the airport, or the wider UK Central plans for the area.
“We see Solihull as a strong strategic play. Mell Square is a long term buy. We’ve spent a further £25m buying in sites since we bought it, so a total of £60m there,” says Hammond. Details will be released by the end of the year.
The ultimate goal of all of this activity is of course some decent profits. Wooldridge says IM is on track to almost double the 2013 pre-tax profit figure of £16.6m: “We’re hoping to hit pre-tax profits of circa £30m this year.”
Residential
Wooldridge is a co-founder of residential arm Spitfire Bespoke Homes, set up in 2011. Spitfire has around 40 sites and is very acquisitive, buying consented sites to get on-site now. Another focus is city centre apartment developments of between 50-100 flats, says Wooldridge.
This is a departure from February’s announcement by IM saying it was to make its first foray into the private rented sector with plans to invest £100m in the West Midlands.
So, just nine months on, why have things changed? “PRS is an interesting debate. Everyone’s talking about it, but there’s not a lot happening. Because of the capital targeting PRS it has become less attractive to us, because you’re in very competitive bidding situations on apartment sites,” he says.
He doesn’t rule PRS out but adds: “It’s difficult to make the figures stack compared to sales figures. Whole blocks tend to trade at a discount. For now, if we were to build flats in Birmingham, we’d definitely be selling them.” 
