"Winning this mandate is a reflection of our strong track record in managing funds in many and varied market conditions over the last 25 years," says Robert Gilchrist, chief executive of Rockspring, in a release. "As a specialist property fund manager, we have built up an outstanding platform across the UK and Europe, with highly experienced senior management, transactional and asset management teams."
The London-based company has already begun evaluating potential properties to acquire and has plans in place to complete several deals before the end of the year. Which properties the fund is considering was not disclosed, but landmark assets in both the office and retail sector rank highly on the list.
The majority of purchases will cost more than $218 million to purchase. The fund will purchase properties both with or without debt.
"We will be working hard to source exceptional opportunities in the Central London office and retail market that will deliver the required returns for our investor," Gilchrsit says. "Given the level of equity available to the fund and its ability to be flexible on gearing for each transaction, we believe the fund will stand out as an attractive potential purchaser in a market that still has limited availability of debt."
Mike Pryer will act as fund manager for NPS Central London Property Limited Partnership.
NPS was founded in 1988 and has a reserve that totals more than $200 billion, with a target fund size of $440 billion by the start of 2013. Currently the fund has an acquisition plan to invest roughly $3 billion throughout London, New York, Tokyo and Sydney this year.
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