Fund increased

10 Sep 2007 07:02

Safeland PLC10 September 2007 For immediate release 10 September 2007 SAFELAND PLC Further capital raised for Safeland Active Management Unit Trust Ability to grow Fund to c. £200m Safeland plc ("Safeland"), the fund management, property trading and investmentcompany, announces that Safeland Active Management ('the Safeland Fund'), theJersey unit trust of which it is UK property manager, has raised further equitywith Babcock & Brown and certain of its managed funds (B&B) agreeing to investan initial sum of up to £50 million. At the same time funds managed by ElectraPartners LLP (the "Electra Funds") have agreed to increase their investment inthe Safeland Fund from £15 million to £20 million. Barclays Bank plc has also agreed to increase its facilities to the SafelandFund from £35 million to £170 million. This increases the Safeland Fund'sleveraged investment capability to circa £200 million. The Safeland Fund is a Jersey property unit trust which invests in incomeproducing UK property investments, where value can be added by activemanagement. It was established in October 2006 with a £15 million investmentfrom The Electra Funds together with an investment by Safeland of £1 million.Safeland is responsible for identifying investment opportunities and formanaging the properties which are acquired. To date, £47 million has already been invested in properties, all of which tradeunder the brand name "Flexspace" offering space, typically to small businesses,on short term renewable licences for use as offices, studios, workshops andother light industrial workspace. C. B. Richard Ellis Financial Services Ltdtogether with Property Financial Solutions Limited advised on the capitalraising. Larry Lipman, Managing Director of Safeland said: "The expansion of the Safeland Active Management fund will increase our abilityto acquire property with lower capital cost to the business. The substantialinvestment by Babcock and Brown and the increased investment commitment byElectra Partners is a strong endorsement of their confidence in Safeland'sability to identify and manage investment properties and we believe that we arenow well positioned to take advantage of the opportunities that will occur inthis exciting and expanding sector." "This not only gives us increased revenue through our management fee and thepotential to earn more through profit share, but also firmly establishes ourfund management business which should give us a more predictable revenue streamgoing forward." For further information please contact: Safeland plc Parkgreen Communications LtdLarry Lipman, Managing Director Paul McManusPaul Davis, Finance Director Tel: 020 7851 7480Tel: 020 8815 1600 Mob: 07980 541 893www.safeland.co.uk paul.mcmanus@parkgreenmedia.com Further details Safeland has agreed (through one of its wholly owned subsidiaries) to manage theproperty portfolio of the Safeland Fund for an initial period of 5 years(although that may be extended by a further period of 2 years) When the Safeland Fund was established, it was a requirement of the ElectraFunds that Safeland should appoint three appropriately experienced keyexecutives. The Management Team now comprises Larry Lipman, Paul Davis and NeilCorderey. It was a further requirement of the Electra Funds that members of themanagement team be personally incentivised by allocating 25% of Safeland'sCarried Interest to them. Of that total, 9% has been allocated to Larry Lipmanand 8% to each of Paul Davis and Neil Corderey. These arrangements will remainin place after the investment by the B&B. Approval will be required to replaceany of these executives should they leave for any reason, when they may losetheir right to the share of the Carried Interest allocated to them. Note to editors: The Safeland Fund sees the continuation of the relationship with ElectraPartners that was started with the launch of a focused managed workspace fundwith Bizspace plc, a company that was demerged from Safeland in May 2000 andsold to Highcross in July 2006 for £82m. At the date of sale, the Bizspaceportfolio had grown over 60% since inception and comprised the management of 64properties. About Electra Partners LLP Electra Partners is an independent private equity fund management group with£800m under management. Electra Partners has accumulated considerable expertiseand built a strong track record in private equity investments, includingproperty, for which it maintains a specialist management team. Its principalinvestment client is Electra Private Equity PLC whose assets it, or itspredecessor Electra Partners Limited, has managed for over 15 years, as well asa number of other funds during that time. About Babcock & Brown: Babcock & Brown is a global investment and advisory firm with longstandingcapabilities in structured finance and the creation, syndication and managementof asset and cash flow-based investments. Babcock & Brown was founded in 1977 and is listed on the Australian StockExchange. Babcock & Brown operates from 29 offices across Australia, NorthAmerica, Europe, Asia, United Arab Emirates and Africa and has in excess of 1250employees worldwide. Babcock & Brown has five operating divisions including realestate, infrastructure and project finance, operating leasing, structuredfinance and corporate finance. The company has established a funds managementplatform across the operating divisions that has resulted in the creation of anumber of focused investment vehicles in areas including real estate, renewableenergy and infrastructure. For further information about Babcock & Brown please see: www.babcockbrown.com This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange