CBRE recruited for £840m Greater Manchester Property Venture Fund

Greater Manchester Pension Fund’s property development and investment arm will be advised by CBRE over the next seven years – a position formerly held by Avison Young.

GMPF has allocated £840m for local property development via its Greater Manchester Property Venture Fund. As the fund’s investment advisor, CBRE will provide support in choosing what commercial and residential projects to invest in.

In the past, GMPF has contributed to the delivery of Argent’s One St Peter’s Square, Airport City, Bruntwood SciTech’s Circle Square, Capital&Centric’s Crusader Mill, Rise Homes’ Mailbox in Stockport, and HBD’s Island.

GMPF chair Cllr Gerald Cooney made a point to thank Avison Young for its work with the fund over the past 15 years.

“We now look forward to building a strong and effective partnership with CBRE to successfully deliver against our strategy and drive social, economic and community impact through our real estate investments across the North of England,” Cooney said.

Colin Thomasson, head of Northern investment at CBRE, said his team was “honoured” to advise GMPF.

“The investment potential across the North of England is exceptional and the scope of this investment programme will enable us to draw on the full power of the CBRE platform, bringing together experts from our capital markets, asset management, development advisory, lending and direct investment advisory teams to deliver significant value to the fund over the next seven years,” Thomasson said,

“We are excited to build a powerful partnership with GMPF that will drive social, economic and community impact.”

Will Church, the executive director of lending at CBRE, described his team’s experience in deploying more than £1.6bn into debt investments in the North West and Yorkshire over the past 12 years.

He added: “We consider GMPF’s ability and commitment to invest in schemes that benefit local communities to be fundamental to the ongoing success of the region and we are delighted to be able to build on our track record of delivering impact outcomes.”