Property Investment Fund Company Liverpool
by Tony McDonough, Liverpool Daily Post - Business Week.
Tony McDonough talks to MATT STAINES, of Property First Asset Management.
MATT STAINES seems pretty laid back for a man whose job it is to make
sure the small to medium investors whose money he is entrusted with get
a decent return with their property investment funds.
But his relaxed air can be explained by the
fact that at 33 he genuinely believes he has found his niche in life, a
potentially lucrative niche at that.
Staines holds the modest
title of business development manager for the Liverpool-based Property First Asset Management, a fund manager and property developer
established only last year.
He is in fact the key figure in the
operation, which uses money directly from private investors and from
those investing money in SIPPS (Self Invested Personal Pensions) or
SASS (Small Self Administered Pension ) funds through their accountants
and financial advisers, to construct property schemes to be asset
managed.
The Property First fund management team is rapidly
gaining a solid reputation for finding property, raising equity from
private investors, arranging finance and managing the project from
start to finish.
“We are a commercial property company with a
property fund management business,†said Staines. “But we have a
different way of approaching things.
“We never pay full market
value for land or property but instead look to pay up to 40% below.
Around 90% of sites we are offered we actually say no to. The kind of
deals we look for will often come out of death, divorce or
insolvencies.â€
Last month Property First revealed about half of
a £12m, 78,500 sq ft office development it is building in Speke had
already been sold, despite not being due for completion until summer
2008. The company will be moving there from its current home in
Liverpool city centre.
The project, at Liverpool International Business Park, is the firm’s second scheme in four months.
Property First No 1, a £10m mixed-use development in Derby, sold out within four weeks of launch.
So
far, a varied client base has been attracted, ranging from the
first-time investor with £20,000 to invest, to the experienced investor
with millions. First Asset aims to have £1bn worth of property assets
under management within five years.
Staines added: “We do not
buy property to speculate on capital growth. We acquire the site, see
through the project and then manage the asset.
“We look to
undertake projects in the £4-12m range. Once you get over the £15m mark
for a single development you are then getting into the territory of the
larger institutional investors, so we prefer to stay just below the
radar.
“There is a huge demand for property as an investment,
particularly from people who are looking to boost their pension funds.
A single investor might not want to put all their money into one
development but they may want some exposure to it.
“It is the
same with any form of investment, be it property or equities, you
spread the risk and you don’t put all your eggs into one basket.â€
First
Asset’s decision to build commercial, rather than residential
developments, is a very deliberate one, as Staines feels that at the
moment, the latter option is no longer offering the right level of
return.
He said: “I think the days of being able to buy
apartments off plan and make a decent return from them is over for the
time being. We think the market for that has become saturated.
“What
happens in places like Liverpool now is that each time new and better
residential development is built, the relatively small pool of tenants
will move on to that, leaving the slightly older developments empty
behind them.
“We think the opportunity is in delivering
commercial or mixed-use developments. The city centre office market can
be difficult because you are looking to specifically attract the
larger, blue chip buyers or tenants. We find there are a lot of small
firms out there who are doing very well and are looking to move into
quality space up to 2,000 sq ft but are not quite in a position to buy
their own building.
“We allow them the opportunity to buy a unit within a development. That can also act as a pension asset.â€
Staines
was born in Pontypool but was brought up in south Manchester. He came
from a very business-oriented family and in keeping with that
tradition, enrolled on a business studies degree at Manchester
University.
After graduating he worked in IT helping to deliver
major computer infrastructure projects, including one for Barclays.com
worth more than £4m.
But parallel to his day job, Staines was
busy investing his own money into small property projects and it was
this that he found gave him the real buzz.
“I was buying and
doing up properties in my own time,†he said. “But after three or four
years I decided that was what I wanted to do full time, so I joined an
offshore property company doing residential developments. It was a big
transition.â€
When Staines landed at First Asset last year he soon knew he’d made the right move.
“It was the best move I ever made,†he added.
“This is a great company with great foresight, and I think we have the right product.
“I
like to get on site and see the development for myself, and I like to
take the clients along with me. I think it is very much an emotional
investment for some of the clients. It certainly is for me.
“This
business is very much like a private club and I’d like to think we are
all working with people we can trust. We get to know all our clients
personally. It is not just about taking peoples’ money and throwing up
buildings.
“Everything we do as far as the investors are
concerned is completely transparent. We offer clients a medium to long
term view and hopefully steady growth, so it is important we get our
projects absolutely right.â€
Courtesy of the Liverpool Echo
Tony McDonough talks to MATT STAINES, of Property First Asset Management.
MATT STAINES seems pretty laid back for a man whose job it is to make
sure the small to medium investors whose money he is entrusted with get
a decent return with their property investment funds.
But his relaxed air can be explained by the
fact that at 33 he genuinely believes he has found his niche in life, a
potentially lucrative niche at that.
Staines holds the modest
title of business development manager for the Liverpool-based Property First Asset Management, a fund manager and property developer
established only last year.
He is in fact the key figure in the
operation, which uses money directly from private investors and from
those investing money in SIPPS (Self Invested Personal Pensions) or
SASS (Small Self Administered Pension ) funds through their accountants
and financial advisers, to construct property schemes to be asset
managed.
The Property First fund management team is rapidly
gaining a solid reputation for finding property, raising equity from
private investors, arranging finance and managing the project from
start to finish.
“We are a commercial property company with a
property fund management business,†said Staines. “But we have a
different way of approaching things.
“We never pay full market
value for land or property but instead look to pay up to 40% below.
Around 90% of sites we are offered we actually say no to. The kind of
deals we look for will often come out of death, divorce or
insolvencies.â€
Last month Property First revealed about half of
a £12m, 78,500 sq ft office development it is building in Speke had
already been sold, despite not being due for completion until summer
2008. The company will be moving there from its current home in
Liverpool city centre.
The project, at Liverpool International Business Park, is the firm’s second scheme in four months.
Property First No 1, a £10m mixed-use development in Derby, sold out within four weeks of launch.
So
far, a varied client base has been attracted, ranging from the
first-time investor with £20,000 to invest, to the experienced investor
with millions. First Asset aims to have £1bn worth of property assets
under management within five years.
Staines added: “We do not
buy property to speculate on capital growth. We acquire the site, see
through the project and then manage the asset.
“We look to
undertake projects in the £4-12m range. Once you get over the £15m mark
for a single development you are then getting into the territory of the
larger institutional investors, so we prefer to stay just below the
radar.
“There is a huge demand for property as an investment,
particularly from people who are looking to boost their pension funds.
A single investor might not want to put all their money into one
development but they may want some exposure to it.
“It is the
same with any form of investment, be it property or equities, you
spread the risk and you don’t put all your eggs into one basket.â€
First
Asset’s decision to build commercial, rather than residential
developments, is a very deliberate one, as Staines feels that at the
moment, the latter option is no longer offering the right level of
return.
He said: “I think the days of being able to buy
apartments off plan and make a decent return from them is over for the
time being. We think the market for that has become saturated.
“What
happens in places like Liverpool now is that each time new and better
residential development is built, the relatively small pool of tenants
will move on to that, leaving the slightly older developments empty
behind them.
“We think the opportunity is in delivering
commercial or mixed-use developments. The city centre office market can
be difficult because you are looking to specifically attract the
larger, blue chip buyers or tenants. We find there are a lot of small
firms out there who are doing very well and are looking to move into
quality space up to 2,000 sq ft but are not quite in a position to buy
their own building.
“We allow them the opportunity to buy a unit within a development. That can also act as a pension asset.â€
Staines
was born in Pontypool but was brought up in south Manchester. He came
from a very business-oriented family and in keeping with that
tradition, enrolled on a business studies degree at Manchester
University.
After graduating he worked in IT helping to deliver
major computer infrastructure projects, including one for Barclays.com
worth more than £4m.
But parallel to his day job, Staines was
busy investing his own money into small property projects and it was
this that he found gave him the real buzz.
“I was buying and
doing up properties in my own time,†he said. “But after three or four
years I decided that was what I wanted to do full time, so I joined an
offshore property company doing residential developments. It was a big
transition.â€
When Staines landed at First Asset last year he soon knew he’d made the right move.
“It was the best move I ever made,†he added.
“This is a great company with great foresight, and I think we have the right product.
“I
like to get on site and see the development for myself, and I like to
take the clients along with me. I think it is very much an emotional
investment for some of the clients. It certainly is for me.
“This
business is very much like a private club and I’d like to think we are
all working with people we can trust. We get to know all our clients
personally. It is not just about taking peoples’ money and throwing up
buildings.
“Everything we do as far as the investors are
concerned is completely transparent. We offer clients a medium to long
term view and hopefully steady growth, so it is important we get our
projects absolutely right.â€
Courtesy of the Liverpool Echo
