Newcore Capital has acquired seven assets for circa £25m on behalf of its latest value-add social infrastructure fund Newcore Special Situations V (NSS V).
The assets include children’s nurseries in Greater London, a school in Walton-on-Thames in Surrey, which Newcore has leased to Outcomes First Group, two petrol filling stations and a mortuary in Surrey.
The acquisitions follow the final close for NSS V in May, with Newcore securing £190m in equity commitments from investors including Merseyside and Clwyd local government pension schemes, two European fund-of-funds managers, insurance and corporate pension schemes, family offices and high-net-worth individuals.
Harry Savory, chief investment officer at Newcore Capital, said: “Newcore is always looking for an opportunity to invest in assets that provide essential services to society, and we are pleased to include funeralcare in our most recent acquisitions. It is a sector constrained by planning, which services a genuine societal need, particularly in locations with an ageing population.
“Newcore aims to deploy £350m over the next two years for NSS V. Target asset classes include education and childcare, healthcare, storage, life sciences, waste management, roadside and transport. Newcore’s acquisition strategy is to acquire tired, short-leased or vacant assets, and land, typically between £2m-£25m in lot size, in good towns and locations. The investment manager then works with tenants to deliver future-proofed social infrastructure.
“Newcore, the UK’s first B-Corp certified real estate investment manager, currently manages £500m in assets across its core-plus and value-add strategies and will continue deploying capital across the South East of England.”
Hugo Llewelyn (pictured), CEO of Newcore Capital, added: “We set up this business to find the next wave of alternative asset classes to emerge as the ‘new core’ – a key pillar in institutional investors’ portfolios – and this has taken us into new sub-sectors like funeralcare and roadside real estate.
“Brexit, Covid-19 and the Ukraine War have all led to a focus on resilience – finding investments that will be immune to macro-economic shocks and technological disruption – and we can think of nothing more resilient than assets that enable the provision of basic, essential services to society.”
