First Property Group creates new fund with Oxbridge colleges

(ShareCast News) - Fund manager First Property Group has created a new £15.2m fund, Fprop UK Special Opportunities, with the universities of Oxford and Cambridge to invest in commercial property.Christ Church and St Catherine's College from Oxford, along with Robinson College from Cambridge, have collectively invested £14.5m, while First Property has committed £725,000.Investments by the fund may be leveraged, with a maximum loan amount of 50% of the value of the investments, and the fund therefore has a total buying power of just over £30m.The AIM-listed company will earn annual fees from the new fund related to the value of the properties under management.Chief executive Ben Habib, said the fund aims to invest in higher yielding commercial property investments with ways in which to enhance value.He added: "The UK economy is robust and we anticipate that this strategy will yield healthy returns for its investors."In December, the company announced that its Shipbuilding Industries Pension Scheme (SIPS) fund was 95% invested following the acquisition of a portfolio of supermarkets and a retail warehousing scheme in Southampton. The SIPS fund is invested in twenty four properties at a cost of £160.7m, producing a yearly income, after fees, of 6.3%.Shares in First Property Group were up 1.03% to 49p at 1140 GMT.