Hermes and Countrywide team up for residential property fund

Hermes Investment Management and property services group Countrywide have announced a new strategic partnership and the creation of a residential property fund for the UK private rented sector (PRS).

The fund has been set up with £95 million of seed equity and will invest in three assets in Manchester, Birmingham and Nottingham. It will also acquire new assets throughout the UK, and will support the building of high quality and professionally managed homes. Countrywide is the UK’s largest lettings and property management company, while Hermes Real Estate has over £6 billion in assets under management. As partners, they will aim to offer institutional investors residential property exposure which combines a good yield with capital growth, as well as complementing existing real estate and credit assets.