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At a price of £86.4m, the Debenhams distribution centre in Peterborough was Palmer Capital’s biggest acquisition


A


t these points in the property cycle when the market has softened in places and there is uncertainty, it’s usual to get a flurry of start- up businesses. Some of these launches are


precipitated by circumstances – for example, as property consultancies downsize their teams – but others are a response to a slightly less competitive market providing more opportunity for fledgling businesses.


It’s a scenario with which Ray Palmer has become very familiar over the past 25 years. He has developed a knack for spotting winners in a business where propcos are often more characterised by their inherent fragility than potential longevity.


Palmer Capital had its origins in 1992 when Palmer left his role as Chief Executive at property agency, Lambert Smith Hampton, with his share of effectively ‘having sold the business three times’. Although Palmer had money in the bank, the property market was in recession and he found that his wealth actually inhibited the ambition of his dealmaking: “I was coming second in just about everything I bid for,” he recalls.


His involvement in the redevelopment of Leeds Rugby Ground was a breakthrough deal in terms of putting him on the property investment map. The creation of a Morrisons supermarket and a retail warehouse scheme generated good returns and, as he notes, also enabled the creation of several new rugby pitches for Leeds.


Browse | Q3 2017


However, it was his investment into start-up propco, Wrenbridge, in 1993 which established the Palmer Capital template that still endures to this day. The company – which was looking initially to develop around Cambridge – had been started by Peter Jarman and Tim Holmes but they needed new backing to take the business forward.


Palmer recalls: “They wanted financial banking, but they also wanted ‘grey haired thinking’ – somebody that would ask the ‘What if?’ questions.


“It worked very well: Wrenbridge made a profit in its first year and has made a profit every year since. So I thought: ‘Hang on – this is quite an interesting model’. I then met another company about 18 months or so later and I did exactly the same thing with them.”


Today, Palmer Capital has stakes in eight operating businesses: Angle Property, Cubex Land, Danescroft Land, Harlex Property, Manse, Opus Land, Opus North and Wrenbridge Land. It also has around £850m of assets under management across joint ventures, active funds and segregated accounts.


Palmer Capital is still looking to back businesses and its founder is proud that in 25 years it has only parted company with two businesses in which it had invested. One situation dissolved “because the guys had made so much money they wanted to spend more time on the beach”. Regarding the other, he will only say it was a “matter of trust”.


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