A new specialist platform targeting income-producing UK assets impacted by building safety and remediation challenges has launched.
ME Asset Management (ME.AM) combines capital, specialist expertise and execution capability to unlock value in assets that are often avoided by other investors.
ME.AM has completed its first deal – the acquisition of a 132-key Premier Inn hotel on Swansea’s waterfront – and is reviewing a pipeline of similar opportunities across the UK, particularly assets where remediation requirements or regulatory complexity have constrained traditional financing.
ME Asset Management’s initial focus is on operational and income-generating real estate across the UK, including hotels, student accommodation and other sectors where execution capability and regulatory clarity are critical.
The platform is led by Verender Badial, a former investment banker with extensive experience structuring real estate transactions, and Paul Thandi, former chief executive and chairman of the NEC Group in Birmingham.
ME.AM is backed by the founders of GRE Capital, a specialist real estate funding business, alongside the founders of Fleetwood Architectural Aluminium, a re-cladding contractor with extensive experience delivering complex remediation projects across the UK.
Badial (pictured) said: “Many investors have stepped back from assets affected by building safety and remediation challenges, even where the underlying income is resilient. We see that complexity as an opportunity for disciplined capital – particularly where combining real estate finance expertise with delivery capability gives far greater clarity on cost, timing and execution. By approaching these situations with that level of certainty, we are able to unlock value in assets where others see risk and uncertainty.”
Jas Randhawa, ME.AM co-founder and cladding expert, added: “Post-Grenfell, cladding and building safety have often been viewed as barriers rather than solvable challenges. Our experience is that, with the right technical expertise and early engagement, remediation can be planned, priced and delivered with far greater certainty than the market often assumes. That capability sits at the heart of ME Asset Management’s investment approach.”
