A company headed by Clare-based property developers Seán Lyne and Noel Connellan is seeking to raise €100 million to invest in potential residential sites in the south of England.
CLS Crystal Partners, which is run by Mr Lyne and Mr Connellan, is investing €10 million in the project and will manage the fund on behalf of investors.
Friends First is underwriting an additional €30 million in equity while NCB Corporate Finance has been engaged to raise the balance from private clients. Individual investments of more than €100,000 are expected and the planned life of the fund is five to seven years.
When debt is factored in, the Crystal UK Development fund will have up to €250 million to invest. The fund will acquire residential and mixed-use development sites in southeast England, with a view to gaining planning permission and then selling them on. It plans to acquire eight to 10 properties.
Two sites have already been acquired. The fund spent €12.5 million buying a bingo hall close to Stamford Bridge, home to FA Cup winners and Premiership runners-up Chelsea. The fund plans to apply for permission to construct an aparthotel on the half-acre property.
Crystal has also acquired a 50 per cent interest in a land bank in Bracknall, Berkshire.
It has also placed offers on two other sites, with a combined value of €43.8 million.
Mr Lyne and Mr Connellan have been active in property development for more than a decade. The pair acquired the Botanic Inns chain of pubs in Belfast in 2004 for €49 million. They were also behind the development of the €10 million Roselevan shopping centre in Ennis, Co Clare, in 2005.
The two men were also reported to have made a bid for Cusack Park in Ennis to the Clare GAA county board.
Mr Lyne's family owns the Irish Court Hotels group. He was involved in the development of the Clarion Liffey Valley Hotel in west Dublin and in the acquisition of three properties from the former Ryan Hotel group. He is also a backer of the Clare People newspaper. Mr Connellan was managing partner of Ennis-based accountants Connellan & Co.
CLS's other backers are Ian Lawrie, a founder of Liberty Asset Management in 1996, and Martin Baker, a former director of property and development at British supermarket chain Safeway.
Investments in the fund will be made through life assurance policies issued by Friends First. The fund will acquire ordinary shares and loan notes in CP Property Development, a holding company based in Jersey.
Under the terms of a double taxation treaty between the UK and Jersey, planning gains on property traded in Britain will be taxed at 2 per cent in the company. If the property is developed and built on, the additional profit will be taxed at 30 per cent.
Investors will be taxed at a rate of 23 per cent on redemption of their life assurance policy.
