Where do Maritime Capital’s opportunities come from?

Many come from sellers under pressure: administrators, lenders, owners facing a refinance or landlords who’ve lost a major tenant. Others come through relationships built over more than £1.25bn of transactions. Either way, we’re looking for a gap between the asking price and what the property is worth once it’s actively managed.

Which UK property sectors does Maritime Capital invest in?

We’ve worked across the whole UK commercial property market, from offices, shopping centres and high street retail to industrial, hotels and leisure, self-storage, science parks, landed estates and residential. We’ve also owned and operated UK businesses, which gives us an occupier’s view of every building we buy.

What does a well-bought UK asset look like?

At 8-17 High Street in Gosport we bought an off-market parade of 10 shops with vacant offices above for £2.44m in April 2015, a 10% return. After a risk-reward analysis we surrendered the weaker-covenant leases, secured planning for a 70-bedroom Travelodge with a new retail unit, and raised £6.6m of forward funding on a 25-year lease, while keeping the two end properties for residential schemes.

How do you assess risk before buying?

Every acquisition goes through a detailed risk-reward analysis of the asset’s true value, the strength of the tenant covenants and the projected returns. In Battersea, we bought an under-rented, partly let property at auction for £2.6m, with residential conversion as a fallback if active management didn’t deliver. A basic refurbishment and a concerted push with local agents let the whole site, lifting average rents from around £15 psf to £20 psf, and within two months it was valued at £3.1m.

Track record

Can you move quickly when a deal needs it?

Yes. At The Moor Centre in Dudley we tracked the deal for eight months, and when the sale fell through we negotiated a £2.9m cash purchase and completed in three weeks. The fully let five-acre site produces a 12% return, with residential potential to the rear.

Past performance doesn’t guarantee future returns, and that’s exactly why the analysis comes before the offer.

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