10 May 2016

PRADERA NAMES ANDREW PAYNE AS DIRECTOR TO DRIVE FUND EXPANSION

Pradera, the specialist retail fund and asset manager, today confirms the expansion of its senior management team with the appointment of Andrew Payne to the position of Finance Director for the Funds business.

Andrew, an experienced real estate finance executive, will have significant involvement in new business and will be responsible for the oversight of all financial aspects of the Pradera Funds.  They include the Pradera European Retail Fund (PERF), Pradera European Retail Fund 2 (PERF2), Pradera Central and Eastern Fund (PCEF) and Pradera Open-Ended Retail Fund (POERF). 

Andrew is already well-known to Pradera having been key to advising on Pradera’s first fund, PERF, when working with Deloitte Corporate Finance. The qualified Chartered Accountant has over 20 years’ experience working in corporate finance, the last 13 of which have been focussed on the real estate industry.  For the last seven years, he has been based in the Middle East, where he was Head of Real Estate Investment for a local bank, and then as Fund Manager for a $750m German residential and commercial fund.

Prior to moving to the Middle East, Andrew spent 12 years with Deloitte Corporate Finance in London, working in both the due diligence and deal advisory divisions.  He has broad experience of funds, M&A and public/ private fundraising, and set up the dedicated real estate team within the deal advisory division at Deloitte.

Colin Campbell, Pradera’s Chairman, commented: “This year has started very positively, as we build on the momentum created in 2015 and with a significant minority investment by LJ Partnership set to take the company into new segments of the retail property market and over time into new geographies”.

“The appointment of Andrew is another sign of things to come.  His wealth of knowledge and expertise in European funds and further afield, will complement Pradera’s existing senior management and provide the strength and knowledge to ensure Pradera’s business expands significantly over the coming years. We are already exploring a number of new initiatives, including the launch of a new Pradera European Fund.”

In April 2016 Pradera announced a strategic investment by multi-family office LJ Partnership, which agreed to acquire a significant minority interest in Pradera. The transaction has received regulatory approval and is expected to complete shortly.

Earlier this year, the Pradera Open-Ended Retail Fund (POERF) struck a deal with Union Investment to acquire the Äppelallee-Center in Germany, a hybrid retail park/shopping centre in Wiesbaden for EUR 82 million.  At the same time, the fund also celebrated being ranked first over the past five years in the IPD / BVI German Spezialfonds Performance Index. The fund topped the IPD / BVI German Quarterly Spezialfonds Index (SFIX Europa), which comprises 53 funds with a total net asset value of EUR 20 billion.