Orchard secures £100m funding from RBS

A UK fund manager setting up a special situations fund in the UK has secured an acquisition facility from one of the banks hit hard by the credit crunch.

Orchard Street Investment Management has agreed a £100 million (€124 million; $176 million) facility with Royal Bank of Scotland’s real estate finance group for its UK Special Situations Fund.

The fund, which was launched in 2008 with £100m of equity already subscribed, is aiming to invest in up to 15 assets in the UK commercial property market over the next few years.

Orchard Street recruited former Goodman Property Investors executive Barney Rowe to lead the fund in August.

Chris Bartram, chairman of the firm, said in a statement: “In securing this hunting capacity, we believe that we can be very active in pursuit of the exciting investment opportunities presented by the current market.”

The funding comes from a bank that has been relatively hard hit by the financial crisis.

Earlier this month, RBS wrote down £206 million of assets for the third quarter on top of £5.9 billion of writedowns during the first six months of the year. The bank plans to take advantage of a £19.7 billion capital injection as part of the UK government’s bailout plan.

Last month, Phillip Rodger joined Orchard from property services firm Jones Lang LaSalle as its head of asset management.