We are delighted to announce that we have recently closed the equity strip of the investment on 119 Clepington Road – a six-unit, trade counter industrial estate, based in a key location in Dundee – with the £1.25m opportunity having been fully funded. When we originally acquired the property in October, the equity element was underwritten by Growthdeck investors.

The property consists of a terrace of purpose-built units, plus one larger standalone unit, on a 2-acre site. With direct links to the Kingsway (Dundee’s outer Ring Road), which forms part of a major distribution route, the area is a well-established industrial and trade counter location.

The property is approximately 1.3 miles north west of Dundee city centre. Dundee is Scotland’s fourth largest city and was voted ‘Best Place to Live in Scotland 2019’ by the Sunday Times. It has a resident population of c.150,000 people and its Waterfront has been undergoing a £1 billion regeneration, including improvements to the railway station and an upgraded marina area.

Simon Emary, COO at Growthdeck, comments:

“It’s fantastic that we have completed on our first commercial property opportunity – the team have worked hard on this. Our strategy with Clepington Road, which is an example of our value-add approach to existing properties, is to undertake a light refurbishment and extend the current leases. The property has a healthy income stream, with the opportunity to increase this over the anticipated 3-5 year holding period, and we are targeting a return of 10.1% IRR (after all fees) per annum for our investors.”

Our commercial property arm – which caught the attention of leading trade publications such as Property Week when it launched in 2019 – complements our core, tax-efficient investment opportunities in growth companies, and helps to provide investors with an opportunity to diversify their portfolios.

Our experienced and well-known property team provide hand-picked, direct investments in commercial property for our network, with a hands-on, proactive management approach to deliver asset business plans.

The team is headed by experienced property investment manager Andrew White – who held senior investment roles at a property company based in Edinburgh and managed major property assets for institutions including AXA SunLife, which has £400m AUM, and TSB Life – and Michael Ross, who spent a decade as CFO of a multinational architectural practice.

Andrew, who has acquired over £500m in assets across various funds and joint ventures, has also headed large property businesses in the UK as well as the Gulf. Michael, a qualified chartered accountant, is the founder of Buckingham Homes, through which he has partnered in substantial mixed-use developments over the past six years.

A recent addition is Will Moore who brings additional experience to the team, having worked for the likes of Acuitus, a commercial real estate auctioneering and investment company.

Alongside Andrew, Michael and Will is high-profile chairman Xavier Pullen, whose original appointment was covered by City AM. Xavier has invested in, and managed, major property assets across the industrial, office, retail and leisure sectors, and was co-founder and Managing Director at Capital & Regional, the London-listed Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT), for over 30 years, where he helped drive growth in net assets from £7m in 1986, to over £700m when he left in 2013.

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