Growing its capital partnership business, the real estate investment trust paid £5m with a potential additional £4m to acquire the asset manager, which is currently working on Blackpool town centre’s regeneration and the Strand Shopping Centre in Bootle. The extra £4m would be paid out over three years and is contingent on the performance of the company’s earnings before taxes performance.
With the purchase of Ellandi Management, NewRiver REIT can now boast £2bn of assets under management, including 44 shopping centres and 29 retail parks. This will deliver a fee income stream of £8.2m.
Ellandi co-founders and owners Morgan Garfield and Mark Robinson are being kept on as part of the deal. Garfield will become NewRiver’s head of capital partnership, while Robinson will be the head of regeneration. Both are joining the REIT’s executive committee.
Allan Lockhart, chief executive of NewRiver, expanded on the REIT’s reason for snapping up Ellandi. “The acquisition of Ellandi supports our ambitions to expand our capital partnerships business and grow its fee income,” he said. “We have watched the impressive growth of Ellandi over the last 16 years, despite limited capital resources, which has been in no small part due to the entrepreneurial energy and expertise of Morgan, Mark and their team.”
Lockhart continued: “We believe there will be considerable opportunities in the retail real estate market to accelerate the growth of our business from this point. By bringing together two high-quality teams with complementary skills and experience in asset management and regeneration, together with the balance sheet resources we have available, we are well positioned to participate in these opportunities, both on the balance sheet and through capital partnerships.”
Robinson said he was “extremely proud” of what Ellandi had accomplished thus far. Regarding the deal, he said: “Together we will bring unrivalled insights into UK consumer and retailer trends through the extensive data of our enlarged footprint […]. NewRiver is passionate about retail and recognises the important role it plays at the heart of communities, as well as having a similar culture and shared values,” he continued. “I look forward to our business becoming part of the NewRiver team and applying our combined expertise in the sector.”
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