Hansteen (HSTN) has announced a game-changing deal with Aviva (AV) to manage a £460m portfolio of UK industrial properties. The company will take a 26 per cent stake in the Ashtenne Industrial Fund at a 30 per cent discount to book value, and will earn fees for managing the whole portfolio.
This opportunity has arisen because Aviva, the cornerstone investor in the fund, effectively pulled the plug on its cash-starved former manager Warner Estates (WNER) by insisting on paying its fee quarterly in arrears. This precipitated Warner into administration and Ashtenne into the hands of Ian Watson and Morgan Jones, who set up the vehicle in 2001 before selling it to a consortium including Warner in 2005 and then setting up Hansteen - an anagram of Ashtenne.
