Stake-building talk around London property company Shaftesbury is nothing new. But now there’s the names to go with it.
Old friends Mike Ashley and Paul Kemsley have apparently been building a holding in the listed group that owns much of Carnaby Street, Covent Garden and Chinatown, using CFDs. The pair, providing the bread in this particular sandwich right, are thought to have built a stake of up to 10 per cent.
As leading lights of the industry (see Helical Bar’s Mike Slade in Monday’s FT) bemoan the testing times ahead for the UK’s property industry, it may seem an odd moment to buy into the real estate game. But the pounding of property stocks has started to attract bargain hunters – Laxey Partners is trying to raise £1bn for an Aim-listed fund to take advantage opportunities in the beleaguered sector.
Shaftesbury’s market value has fallen from more than £1bn at the beginning of last year, to about £720m. But the niche player, which is less exposed to London offices than its closest peers like Great Portland or Derwent London, has fared better than some of the larger property groups, which have seen their stocks lose more than 40 per cent of their value since last year’s highs. Shaftesbury in December underlined the polarity in the commercial property market as it reported strong rental rises thanks to a resilient occupier market, even as commercial property prices slid.
Its two new part-owners go back to their teenage years, when Kemsley, the former vice-president of Tottenham Hotspur, had a Saturday job opposite Sports Direct founder Ashley’s first store.
Will those betting on an offer materialising for the property company be disappointed? The stock defied the down trend on Monday morning opening up 2 per cent. Kemsley’s Rock, the property and share trading group, has teamed up with HBOS giving it the potential to make a larger corporate move, and Kemsley has made clear that he sees value in the property sector, with potential for public to private deals in the coming 12 months.
But rather like his old mate Ashley, Kemsley is well known for his share trading as well as for his direct property investment. He last year bought a 12 per cent stake in Quintain, before selling it to HBOS.