UK real estate consultancy firm Knight Frank has announced the launch of a new in-house investment management unit. Knight Frank Investors will provide segregated investment management services to pension funds, insurance companies, private banks and high net-worth individuals.
UK real estate consultancy firm Knight Frank has announced the launch of a new in-house investment management unit. Knight Frank Investors will provide segregated investment management services to pension funds, insurance companies, private banks and high net-worth individuals.
The investment manager has £500 mln (EUR 570 mln) of UK assets under management and will be led by partners John Styles and Richard White, who previously undertook investment management activities through Rutley Capital Partners.
'Investment management is core to our business and is a service we are continuing to grow,' said Alistair Elliott, head of Knight Frank's commercial division.
The new investment management unit has carried out its first acquisitions. Acting on behalf of Lancashire County Pension Fund, Knight Frank Investors carried out the purchase of Benson House in Leeds from the UK commercial property company MEPC for £20 mln. It also acquired 10 Brook Street in Mayfair, London from IVG Funds for £30 mln. Existing clients have a further £100 mln to invest across the UK commercial market in the next 12 months, Knight Frank Investors said.
The new subsidiary is 100%-owned by Knight Frank.
The creation of the new unit follows the termination of Knight Frank's private equity unit Rutley Capital Partners (RCP) in December 2009 as a result of Black Sea Global Properties’ acquisition of a controlling shareholding in Rutley European Property (REPL), a commercial real estate fund listed on the LSE and managed by RCP.