Maiden investment for new Opp

RNS Number : 2866U

First Property Group PLC

13 October 2010

 



Date:                           13 October 2010

On behalf of:               First Property Group plc ("First Property" or the "Group")

Embargoed:                0700hrs

First Property Group plc

Maiden investment for new Opportunity Fund

First Property Group plc (AIM: FPO), the AIM-listed property fund management group, today announces that its new Opportunity Fund, ("Fprop Opportunities plc or FOP"), which the Group announced it had established on 5 October 2010, has made its first property purchase.

The asset is a Carrefour hypermarket in Lodz, Poland, which FOP has purchased for a consideration of circa €20 million. The lease has eleven years unexpired and is guaranteed by Carrefour S.A., the French parent company. It is forecast to earn a return on equity invested of approximately 30% per annum. FOP completed the purchase using part of the initial £7 million of equity with which First Property Group PLC capitalised the fund.

Following its launch last week, Fprop Opportunities plc remains open to subscriptions. Interested parties should contact Jeremy Barkes on [phone].

Ben Habib, Chief Executive of First Property Group plc, said:

"We are delighted to have completed our maiden investment in FOP; this Carrefour hypermarket is a core asset from which we expect to generate opportunity type returns, commensurate with the objectives of the fund, which is to earn a rate of return on equity and an internal rate of return of 15% per annum or more. We expect to announce further investments in due course, all of which we expect will exceed our minimum 15% per annum target rate of return."

For further information contact:

First Property Group plc	Tel: [phone]
Ben Habib (Chief Executive) Jeremy Barkes (Director, FJB Capital Advisers)	www.fprop.com
Arden Partners	Tel: [phone]
Chris Hardie (Director Corporate Finance )
Redleaf Communications	Tel: [phone]
Adam Leviton	[e-mail]

§ Publication quality photos are available from Redleaf Communications

Notes to investors and editors     

·     First Property Group plc is a commercial property fund manager with operations in the United Kingdom and Central Europe. The performance of its funds under management ranked #1 versus the IPD benchmarks for CEE and Poland for the 4 year period to 31 December 2009.

·     The principal business model of First Property Group can be summarised as follows:

o  raise third party funds to invest in income producing commercial property;

o  co-invest in these funds;

o  earn fees for the management of these funds. Fees earned are a function of the value of assets under management as well as the performance of the funds;

o  earn a return on its own capital invested in these funds.

·     It also has a 60% shareholding in a mechanical & electrical (M&E) installation and maintenance contractor, First Property Services Limited.

·      Further information about the Company and its products can be found at: www.fprop.com.

 

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