Catalyst Capital reviews options

Catalyst Capital, the London-based, pan-Europe and India fund manager, has appointed Ernst & Young to carry out a strategic review of the business.

The move, reported by UK magazine Property Week, encompasses a number of options aimed at helping the company grow and to bring in fresh capital, including selling a minority stake in the company to a third party. However, an outright sale has been rule out, according to the report.

Catalyst was established in 2001 after Julian Newiss spun out from UK property company Greenwich Group, and has more than €1.1 billion of assets under management in the UK, France, Germany and Central and Eastern Europe. It also has a business in India where it is has plans to raise a debt fund to follow an equity fund, PERE understands.

Other than selling a direct interest in the company, Ernst & Young has been tasked with examining the scope to set up joint ventures or some other firm of partnerships to help the company expand. New investment markets the company is examining include Spain, according to the report in Property Week.

Catalyst is the manager of two property funds, Catalyst European Property Fund I and Catalyst Samsara India Opportunity Fund I, and is currently fundraising for a second European fund, Catalyst European Property Fund II, seeking €600 million.

In January it announced a partnership with Starwood Capital to buy a UK portfolio of properties from Premier Property Group for £43.1 million (€51.5 million; $71 million). Last year it partnered the same US group to acquire a loans from Ireland’s National Asset Management Agency with a par value of €800 million along with Dublin-based, Key Capital Real Estate.