M7 Real Estate has increased its investment in IPSX Group, a company seeking to launch a securities exchange dedicated to companies owning single commercial real estate assets.

IPSX, which has received a further “significant investment” from the pan-European investor and asset manager, also said it has appointed M7’s CEO Richard Croft as a non-executive director.

In December 2016, IPSX announced that M7 had invested in the company’s funding round.

The terms of M7’s involvement remain undisclosed

IPSX said it is in talks with a broad range of early potential issuers including private equity real estate funds, sovereign wealth funds, major quoted real estate groups and owner-occupiers seeking a new way to unlock value from their real estate holdings.

Anthony Gahan, the chairman of IPSX Group, said: “M7 and its management team have been deeply supportive shareholders in IPSX from an early stage and we are delighted that it will continue to be a significant partner to the company alongside our other key institutional shareholders.

“Establishing an entirely new financial market is a major undertaking but is made easier by a sector embracing innovation and taking an active role in its delivery. We are confident that the IPSX proposition represents a new and very much overdue addition to the world of real estate investment.”

Croft said: “M7 has always sought to support innovation in the real estate market – and, in particular, in companies which have global relevance to the asset class and its participants.

“I expect IPSX to be embraced by real estate owners as a default capital markets solution and by investors as a new proxy for direct investment. The creation of a new public market should further establish real estate as the fourth mainstream asset class.”

IPSX expects to begin operations later this year subject to regulatory approval.