Acquisition shareholding
First Property Group PLC
02 September 2005
Embargoed til 0730 2nd September 2005
First Property Group plc
Acquisition of Minority Shareholding in First Property Asset Management Ltd
First Property Group plc ('Fprop' or 'the Company') (AIM: FPO), the online
commercial property transaction platform and property asset manager, today
purchased the 26% minority interest of John Nettleton in First Property Asset
Management Ltd ('FPAM') for £330,000 in cash. FPAM is now a wholly owned
subsidiary of the Company.
FPAM was incorporated in September 2002 to manage commercial property on behalf
of third party funds. It currently manages £21 million of commercial property,
which will rise to some £30 million once funds under management are fully
invested. FPAM made a contribution, before the allocation of overheads, of
£303,000 in the year to 31 March 2005 and ended that year with net liabilities
of £210,000.
John Nettleton is and will remain a director of FPAM. As a result of this
association he is deemed to be a related party for the purposes of this
transaction. The Company's directors consider, having consulted its nominated
adviser, Arden Partners, that the terms of the transaction are fair and
reasonable in so far as shareholders are concerned.
On 25 August 2005, Fprop announced that it had secured a new £50 million
commercial property fund management mandate from the Universities Superannuation
Scheme ('USS'). This mandate was won by another subsidiary within the Fprop
group and not FPAM.
For further information:
Ben Habib, Chief Executive, First Property Group plc: 020 7731 2844
Andrew Raca, Arden Partners Limited: 0121 423 8941
Richard Sunderland, Tavistock Communications Limited: 020 7920 3150
0771 340 6291
Notes to Editors:
First Property Group is an integrated, internet based, property services and
asset management group. Its various divisions are:
First Property Asset Management ('FPAM') - First Property Group's property fund
management subsidiary, commenced trading in October 2002. FPAM now has five
funds, containing circa £21 million of property assets, under management.
In addition to the activities carried out by FPAM, Fprop also recently signed a
new £50 million commercial property fund management mandate from the
Universities Superannuation Scheme which can borrow up to three times the amount
invested. This fund will invest in commercial property in the United Kingdom,
and Central and Eastern Europe, utilising Fprop's expertise in the UK and its
recently opened Warsaw office. Typical lot sizes are likely to be between £3
million and £30 million covering the retail, office and industrial sectors.
Commercial Property Database ('CPD') - In 2001, Fprop acquired CPD, which
provides access to its interactive database of UK properties exclusively to
commercial property agents via their own web sites, giving multiple searching of
size, location and property type thus also providing agents with an income
generating facility. CPD provides database and web services to about 100
commercial property agents in the UK.
Online Sales of Properties - First Property Group plc operates a web based
business-to-business property transaction platform established to facilitate the
buying and selling of UK commercial property. By combining an email marketing
campaign, to its database of some 35,000 property practitioners, with links to
detailed property details at www.fprop.com, it sells property entirely online
without the assistance of any traditional services.
Property Transaction Underwriting - Given Fprop's access to property for sale,
its financing capability, its online sales capability and its in-house
expertise, the Company also operates a property transaction underwriting
service. This service allows Fprop to target vendors who have property for sale
and offer to act as a buyer of last resort. If the property is sold on the
market, any upside above the guaranteed price is typically shared 50/50 between
the vendor and the Company.
This information is provided by RNS
The company news service from the London Stock Exchange