Manchester-based developer Beech Holdings is planning its expansion into five major regional cities, after gaining significant backing from Saudi Arabian investor AIMS Investment.
Chief executive Stephen Beech told EG that the business is in talks to acquire sites in Leeds, Sheffield, Newcastle and Glasgow, after AIMS acquired a majority stake in the business. It is also considering expansion opportunities in Birmingham.
“The target is to spend hundreds of millions up and down the UK, primarily starting in those territories,” said Beech.
The deal has provided AIMS with a residential development platform in the UK.
AIMS will also pump £130m into delivering a 1,000-apartment pipeline the business has across Manchester.
Last year, Beech Holdings sold four of its assets in Manchester to AIMS’s investment arm Cedar Tree for £40m, and since then the two parties have progressed towards a partnership agreement.
Beech said the Saudi investor chose to use Manchester as a platform to expand further into the UK because of the level of demand for high-end homes in the city.
He also cited data from Savills showing that the North West is set to experience the highest rise in property prices in the UK over the next five years.
Beech Holdings is currently developing the 155-apartment Ancoats Gardens scheme in Manchester.
It also expects to complete two further schemes in the city within the next two months: the 90-bed Academy student accommodation scheme opposite University Academy ’92 in Old Trafford, and 15 apartments along Waterloo Street in the city centre.
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