Hiberno Saxon to launch EUR 115m property fund

Property investor and asset manager Hiberno Saxon aims to raise some £100 mln (EUR 115 mln) from institutional investors and from private wealth managers for its first fund which will target commercial real estate in the UK.

Hiberno Saxon, founded by Tom O'Mahony and Ned Truman, currently has EUR 250 mln of assets under management.

'This is an exciting time for the business,' said Ned Truman, director, Hiberno Saxon. 'After consolidating our current portfolio, we feel this is the right time to be launching our first fund. We have started to have discussions with potential investors and the feedback has been very encouraging.'

As part of this investment management effort, the company has hired Richard Huntingford and Simon Cooke to join the board as non-executive directors. Cooke, 51, has 30 years experience of the UK commercial property market. He was CEO of Morgan Grenfell Asset Management (later Deutsche Property Asset Management and then RREEF UK) from 1997 to 2003. He later became managing director of Close Brothers property investment division from 2006 to 2009, with over £1 bn under management. In 2003 he set up Cooke & Powell which provides advisory and consultancy services to a variety of investors, commercial property owners and financial institutions.

Huntingford has extensive executive experience of growing businesses and building teams, both organically and through M&A, and value realisation, from his time as CEO of Chrysalis Group and Chairman of Virgin Radio. He is also a chartered accountant (FCA), having spent 12 years at KPMG.