Urban Exposure has shelved plans to list its closed-end real estate arm.
Part of the Urban Exposure Group, Urban Exposure Real Estate specialises in residential development finance in the UK.
The division was set to raise £500m (€630m) through an initial public offering and last month received the backing of US hedge fund, EJF Capital. The Virginia-based firm had committed £75m to the IPO as a cornerstone investor in the fund, which had targeted returns of 14%.
However, Urban Exposure said the plan to list had been dropped due to the “prevailing IPO backdrop”.
The group’s management said it had received an “encouraging response from prospective investors”, with discussions ongoing to instead privately fund the group, which has a £3bn pipeline of UK residential development finance opportunities.
“The Group is well placed to build on the strong track record it has already established within the residential-led real estate development loans market,” it said. “Management will continue to deploy this pipeline via the current, private funding arrangements already in place.”
Urban Exposure, which has previously partnered Starwood Capital, LaSalle Investment Management, Barclays and RBS, last month said it has £476m of commitments on development finance on residential-led real estate projects in London and southeast. A lender since 2009, it has a current pipeline in residential lending opportunities of £3bn, of which £858m is under negotiation.
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