Union Hanover Group taken over by Real Estate Debt Securities
Urban Hanover Group, which recently received planning permission to build an Urban Villa hotel in Edinburgh, is now in the hands of REDS which is undertaking an audit of the assets within the portfolio to consider whether strategic disposals or restructuring of the business will be best for its investors.
A successful MBO would have resulted in REDS being repaid its investment into the group.
EquityBridge Asset Management, through its Secured Fund, a fixed income fund and part of the EquityBridge PCC was the major backer and capital provider to REDS through an asset-backed bond purchase programme.
Warren Malschinger, managing director of EquityBridge, said: “We are clearly disappointed that the exit strategy we had envisioned did not transpire. However it is clearly a particularly attractive portfolio and our being able to negotiate directly with interested parties and potential partners facilitates a greater tactical alignment with the fund’s strategy.
“We will now consider how the portfolio can best be asset managed to blend repayment of shorter-term loans while delivering the continued upside in the current market of being invested in longer-term projects, in line with the fund’s investment goals”.
As well as the 180-bedroom Urban Villa hotel planned for Edinburgh, in the UK Union Hanover Group also has permission to build a 182-bedroom hotel in Aberdeen and The Penny Brook at Stratford. It also developed Urban Villa in Brentwood which opened earlier this year.
