£15m sale gives birth to £50m joint venture
Craigard Investments, the brainchild of former IM Properties executive Paul Foster and which has only been in existence for two years, has struck a joint venture funding deal with Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), with a target of £50m worth of assets.
The two organisations are now celebrating the sale of their first project together, a 375,000 sq ft building, branded ’Celtica‘ in Sherburn–in–Elmet, near Leeds for nearly £15m to Kingspan, which is set to create initially up to 60 jobs in the local area. Craigard is already reaching new heights, also recently selling the Craigard One building, which is let to DBC Foodservice for £7.7m in Thatcham, Berks. Paul, who returned to his South Coast roots to set up Craigard after 14 years as Estates Director at IM Properties, is already eyeing up potential targets across the region.
Craigard is already making a huge impact in the UK with over £65m in transactions before its second birthday. Though the company is backed by property heavyweights Atkins Properties and Deeley Group, the additional funding from RBS will enable Craigard to mount a more aggressive acquisition campaign, with a target of some five to six major projects of between £3m and £10m over the next 12–18 months. The venture has already kick–started with the acquisition of Avalon, 110,740 sq ft unit in Hampshire’s much sought–after Boyatt Wood Industrial Estate, purchased for £5.5m.
The funding will primarily target the South Coast, but will also look into developments throughout the UK, and see Craigard focusing on a niche area of purchasing, re–letting and selling vacant or short–term lease industrial and office units.
Paul comments, “The funding will be integral to the growth of the company, and there are many potential opportunities available in both the local South–Coast market, and also throughout the UK. With my previous experience in property development, and the initial projects where we have worked together in Sherburn and Eastleigh, it is clear that this partnership can be very successful.”
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