SJ Berwin helps entrepreneurs with launch of property investment fund
SJ Berwin helps entrepreneurs with launch of property investment fund" />SJ Berwin's property department has helped launch a new £150m property fund for two high-profile industry entrepreneurs, starting with the purchase of an office building in St James's.
Brockton Capital has been established by property industry figures David Marks and Jason Blank as a real estate private equity fund.
The fund, backed by just nine investors, including two hedge funds, is expected to have an 80 per cent gearing, enabling a spending power of £750m.
Marks is the former UK property director for US private equity house Blackstone, while Blank spent four years as an investor at Merrill Lynch Asia.
SJ Berwin real estate partner John Eldridge and corporate partner Michael Goldberg led the transaction to establish the fund and make its first acquisition. Associates Richard Lloyd and David Fitzgerald assisted on the transaction.
The firm secured instructions from Brockton on its creation and first acquisition through a historical personal relationship between Eldridge and Marks.
It is understood that the relationship goes back to Marks' time at Jones Lang LaSalle in the early 1990s.
Eldridge said: "Brockton is one to watch: it intends to be highly active in the marketplace.
"Both David and Jason have worked on a wide variety of property assets in the past and are skilled at looking for angles to improve values - a skill that's going to be essential in this current marketplace of high prices."
