The managers of PINE unit trust are planning to double its size to £100m ahead of a potential transformation to a REIT.

PINE is a specialist fund that invests in nursery property, managed by Nexus Pine, whose partners are Alan Proto and Harry Hyman. It was launched last year with an initial £50m of funds, and Proto said the fund would seek to raise an additional £50m in September.

The news comes on the back of a series of deals for PINE, headlined this week by a £12.5m, 25-year sale-and-leaseback of seven Nord Anglia Education nurseries. This transaction, together with others set to complete over the next few weeks, will see PINE’s investment reach £30m.

The Jersey-based unit trust – whose principal investors are funds managed by Electra Partners and Nexus Structured Finance – buys day nurseries with a minimum of 45 registered places and rents them back to the operator.

Proto said: "A sale-and-leaseback provides the operator with more funds than debt finance can provide, at a lower overall costs. In concluding this transaction, PINE was able to move extremely quickly, with exchange of contracts achieved in under a month from the original discussions."

Hyman hopes to convert his similar fund Property Health Properties, launched 11 years ago, to a REIT.

Proto said: "For PINE, conversion to a REIT is certainly an attractive option, and PHP would give us direct experience of REITs."

Copyright © 2006 - All Rights Reserved  |    View Text Only   |  Valid XHTML, CSS and WAI-A