Rockspring Property Investment Managers LLP ("Rockspring") has confirmed that it has been instructed by The National Pension Service of Korea ("NPS"), the world's fifth largest pension fund, to invest on its account in Central London trophy assets.
Rockspring is currently evaluating a number of possible acquisitions in the Central London market on behalf of the newly-established, Rockspring-managed 'NPS Central London Property Limited Partnership' and expects to conclude a number of transactions before the end of 2009.
Rockspring is targeting major individual properties, typically prime landmark assets located from the West End through to the City, which benefit from long leases with strong tenants in the office and retail sector.
Typically individual lot sizes will be in excess of £150 mln., and can be acquired with or without debt, enabling each acquisition to be agreed and concluded speedily.
NPS is the world's fifth largest pension fund and is an existing client of Rockspring as an investor in its Rockspring TransEuropean IV fund. It was established in 1988 and has current reserves of approximately $200 billion and a targeted fund size of $440 billion by the end of 2012. It has a specific strategy to invest up to $3 billion acquiring real estate assets in London, New York, Tokyo and Sydney in 2009.
Mike Pryer has been appointed as Fund Manager for NPS Central London Property Limited Partnership, reporting to Chief Executive and Fund Director, Robert Gilchrist. With his extensive experience of managing both segregated and UK focused funds for Rockspring, Mike will work alongside Hugh Elrington, Rocksprings's head of UK transactions, in sourcing acquisitions for the fund as well as managing the assets once acquired.
Robert Gilchrist, Chief Executive of Rockspring, said: "We are absolutely delighted to be working alongside NPS. Winning this mandate is a reflection of our strong track record in managing funds in many and varied market conditions over the last 25 years. As a specialist property fund manager, we have built up an outstanding platform across the UK and Europe, with highly experienced senior management, transactional and asset management teams.
"We will be working hard to source exceptional opportunities in the Central London office and retail market that will deliver the required returns for our investor. Given the level of equity available to the fund and its ability to be flexible on gearing for each transaction, we believe the fund will stand out as an attractive potential purchaser in a market that still has limited availability of debt."
Source: FD
