Ex-Aviva manager Anderton launches investment firm

17 July 2020 10:35 Sarah Townsend Comments (0)

Christian Anderton, former asset manager at Aviva Investors who oversaw the £400m financing deal for Allied London’s Enterprise City scheme in Manchester, has set up an investment advisory practice called Haida.

Haida aims to split its operations between Manchester and London, focussing on deal origination, underwriting and, on occasion, debt raising on behalf of clients, combining investment management with broader property consultancy.

Anderton, founder and chief executive of Haida, told Place North West he is advising several property companies and real estate fund managers on their investment strategies. The practice also includes facilitating negotiations with developers on behalf of clients seeking to occupy pipeline regeneration and mixed-use schemes.

There are currently no plans for Haida to co-invest in projects alongside clients, or otherwise pump its own money into schemes, although this may happen in the medium term, according to Anderton.

Haida has an estimated £50m-£100m of deals in the pipeline, he added, with clients including workspace technology firm Node Technologies, rugby player Phil Greening’s fitness brand the Athlete Factory, and consultancy OBI Property.

Anderton, who left Aviva last year, is running Haida alone, although he hopes to set up offices in both London and Manchester and hire up to five members of staff for each within the coming year.

During his time at Aviva, Anderton helped the fund manager to reposition its investment strategy outside London and the South East, with a focus on Manchester, Birmingham and Cambridge.

In Manchester, he worked on deals such as the Allied London forward funding deal and the acquisition by Aviva Investors to acquire the freehold interest on Kier Property’s 85,000 sq ft office development at 11 York Street.

In Cambridge, Anderton worked with the Brookgate-Aviva developer joint venture, which is working with Node to create a mixed-use office-led scheme next to Cambridge railway station. Anderton was retained as an advisor to Node after leaving Aviva.

He previously worked as a capital markets broker for firms in London.

Anderton said: “Uncertainty creates opportunity, but it also breeds a need for innovation. UK real estate faces perhaps the greatest evolution to investment underwriting and workspace occupation of the modern generation.

“Haida takes an operational approach to real estate, bringing together proactive investment management, with occupier-led demand as the catalyst for change.”