EUROPE NEWS:‘Increasingly attractive’ UK

Rockspring Property Investment Managers has been having a busy year. The most recent announcement came in November when it said it had held first close of £152 million (€167.5 million; $253.1 million) for its UK Value Fund.

The firm said in a statement that is was currently seeking a total of £400 million for the vehicle, but that holding a first close would allow the fund to invest “immediately”. The fund is structured as a closed-ended vehicle.

Five unnamed investors from both the UK and Continental Europe have made the commitments, it added. Bloomberg reported in April this year that Rockspring was marketing the vehicle and that it had raised £90 million with another £45 million “close to agreement”.

Rockspring reportedly started raising money for the value fund in the first half of 2008. However, the fund manager abandoned the effort following the credit crisis last autumn.

Neal Shegog, fund director, said in the firm’s statement last month that asset price adjustments and encouraging underlying property fundamentals suggested that the UK was not only offering “best value” in Europe, but that it was proving “increasingly attractive” against other asset classes. He also said opportunities would be likely to occur through the lack of available debt and distressed selling, among other things.

London-based Rockspring also recently announced the creation of the NPS Central London Property Limited Partnership, which is seeking to buy landmark assets on behalf of the National Pension Service of Korea.