First Property taps into housing market with investment tie-up

24th Oct 2013 13:12

Commercial property fund manager First Property Group (Fprop) is hoping to tap into the Government's support for the housing market and the impact this is having on the residential development market through a new partnership with clients of an unnamed global investment business.The closed-ended tie-up will invest in empty UK office buildings with a view to converting them into housing.Clients of the investment business have agreed to stump up £12m initially with the intention to raise that to £40m within three months. Fprop will commit 5% of the total equity raised, up to a £2m limit.Fprop will manage the new investment vehicle and will be paid 20% of the partnership's profits. Chief Executive Ben Habib said: "Central Government support for the creation of new housing and its support of the housing market generally mean that the environment for residential development is better now than it has been for many years."Shares in the company were up 2.7% at 23.75p at 13:19 on Thursday. TB