Senior industry investors Alex Price and Steven Wright have teamed up to launch a new real estate venture, Ashen Capital.
Ashen has been set up to bring private equity into the property sector, predominately by providing capital and management support to smaller UK asset management and/or development companies, a segment that Ashen believes is underserved.
It will also seek to fund the purchase of property assets, on a selective basis, where value can be added through active management, the firm’s founders said.
The founders are former colleagues at Fiera Real Estate, previously Palmer Capital Partners, where they worked together for 15 years as chief executive and head of corporate investments, respectively.
In that time, they supported the growth of over a dozen UK property development companies, such as Wrenbridge Land and Packaged Living. They invested in over 150 property transactions, both directly and through the investee property development companies. They also raised and deployed over £1.5bn of equity into UK property.
Price led the sale of Palmer Capital to Fiera Capital in 2019 and both left the business in 2023.
Ashen has been seeded with a initial investment from the management team as well as backing from a network of high-net-worth investors, who will invest alongside Ashen on selected opportunities. Over the past year, Price has been providing debt financing to SME developers on residential development across the UK, as well as providing management support to various real estate businesses.
Chief executive of Ashen, Alex Price, said: “Ashen’s mission is to help grow smaller property businesses by providing three separate strands of support: management expertise; working capital and access to an institutional investor base.”
He added “The team will focus on the UK residential sector but will also look at commercial property in London and the South East. We think market timing is good, especially in London and the South East England, given strong rental growth prospects and the store of wealth it provides to international investors”.
Managing director of Ashen, Steven Wright, added: “UK residential property is the deepest, most liquid and active property sector in the UK, but despite this it remains fragmented with an opportunity to professionalise across various parts of the sector. We have a unique track record, built over 20 years, that makes us an ideal strategic partner for real estate businesses seeking to accelerate growth.”
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