Safeland fund to raise GBP50m

8 Jan 2007 07:01

Safeland PLC08 January 2007 For release 8 January 2007 SAFELAND PLC Safeland and Electra Partners raise further £50m Safeland plc ("Safeland") announces that Safeland Active Management ('theFund'), the Jersey unit trust of which it is UK property manager, intends toraise a further £50m of equity to increase the Fund's leveraged investmentresources to circa £200m. Safeland was also a founder investor in the Fund inwhich the principal investors were funds managed by Electra Partners LLP. As at the date of this announcement the Fund has exchanged contracts to purchasefour properties for circa £30m which represents 60% of current investmentresources. The Fund has appointed CB Richard Ellis Financial, part of one of the UK'sleading commercial real estate advisors, as Placing Agent for the fundraising.Safeland will continue to act as UK property manager of the expanded fundthrough its wholly owned subsidiary, Safeland Active Management Ltd which willtrade as Flexspace. Senior Management Appointment Safeland also announces that it has appointed Neil Corderey as Managing Directorof Safeland Active Management Ltd. Neil, aged 43, was previously Managing Director of Bizspace plc, which wasbought by Highcross (Bugatti) Ltd ("Highcross") in June 2006 for £81.2m. Neilwas part of the management team that built Bizspace up to be a leading providerof flexible managed workspace for small to medium sized businesses. WhenBizspace was sold it was managing 64 properties and its portfolio had grown over60% since the company's inception. Neil joined Bizspace in October 2000 as Head of Operations and was appointed tothe board in January 2001 and became Managing Director in 2003. Neil joined Healey and Baker in 1985 and qualified as an associate of the RoyalInstitute of Chartered Surveyors in 1988. In 1994 he joined DevelopmentSecurities Plc and progressed to Investment Director. Neil will be joined by his other colleagues from the Bizspace team: PaulLangford, previously Financial Controller at Bizspace, and Stephen Hartrick,previously Bizspace's Property Manager. Larry Lipman, Managing Director of Safeland said: "We are delighted to appoint Neil as Managing Director of our propertymanagement business and to bring on board the highly successful team that builtBizspace up from a standing start to a business worth over £80m. "Neil and his team have considerable experience in identifying and activelymanaging investment properties and puts Safeland in a very strong positionduring the rapid expansion of Safeland Active Management in conjunction withElectra Partners." For further information please contact: Safeland plc Parkgreen Communications LtdLarry Lipman, Managing Director Paul McManusTel: 020 8815 1600 Tel: 020 7851 7480 Mob: 07980 541 893www.safeland.co.uk paul.mcmanus@parkgreenmedia.com Notes for Editors: Safeland announced in October that it had entered into joint venturearrangements with Electra Partners LLP ("Electra Partners") whereby Safeland andfunds managed by Electra Partners would invest through a Jersey property unittrust - Safeland Active Management ('the Fund') in income producing UK propertyinvestments where value could be added by active management. Safeland and funds managed by Electra Partners contributed up to £1m and £15mrespectively, which together with senior debt facilities from Barclays Bank plc,allowed the Fund to invest up to £50m in suitable properties. Safeland isresponsible for identifying investment opportunities and for managing theproperties over a seven year term. It was intended that the Fund would be expanded with further investment fromthird party investors once the investment programme had been established. The Fund is the continuation of a relationship with Electra Partners thatstarted with the launch of a focused managed workspace fund with Bizspace plc, acompany that was demerged from Safeland in May 2000 and sold to Highcross inJune 2006 for £81.2m. This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange