Henley Investments, the UK private equity real estate investor, has opened its first US offices in Boston and Southern California and launched Henley USA.
Henley USA will open offices in Boston, Massachusetts and Orange County, California and will be headed by Garrett Solomon, the founder of Corbelis, a residential land development and management company.
Prior to forming Corbelis in 2012, Solomon spent almost two decades with Rockpoint Group and Westbrook Partners.
Henley USA will launch with five US-based team members and expects that it will actively be seeking further recruits to grow its presence. In addition, Henley USA and Corbelis will also create a new venture called Henley Corbelis, which will continue the existing Corbelis business and act as an operator on direct deals when appropriate.
Ian Rickwood, chief executive officer of Henley, said:
“We see a real opportunity in the US real estate market, post the great recession many high quality innovative entrepreneurs have struggled to raise equity finance in an efficient manner to grow their operations, our model unlocks that. We are looking forward to working with great local operators.”
Rickwood continued:
“We are excited to have Garrett leading our efforts in the US and are looking for entrepreneurial individuals or firms with a solid track record or unique insight into the market, who have the ambition, energy and desire to grow much bigger ventures.”
Henley USA has begun its operations by picking up Henley’s rollout of Waterwalk Hotel & Apartments, with the intention of opening five Waterwalk franchises in the near future. This follows Henley’s $100m investment in the US’s first serviced apartment brand last year. The firm said it has generated a pipeline of other deals across a number of asset classes, that when completed, would create $500m in assets under management by the end of 2016.
Henley’s US expansion follows a strong 12 months for the firm in the UK and Europe.
The company recently announced Henley Camland’s purchase of a significant portion of Eastern Quarry, Ebbsfleet, one of the UK’s largest residential development sites and the most politically sensitive. In addition, at the end of last year, Henley360, the firm’s European arm, made a number of acquisitions in Holland and Germany. The company looks forward to similar success in the US.
10th June 2016 | Article by Paul Norman – CoStar
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