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Henley and Edifice JV for publicity displays
25 May 2016 | Updated: 25 May 2016 5:45 pm | By Richard Williams
Private equity real estate firm Henley has launched a joint venture with Edifice Managed Access to exploit the potential income streams from advertising displays outside commercial property.
The JV, to be named Henley Outdoor Media Assets, will look to purchase long leasehold or freehold interests in land with live revenue-generating outdoor media assets from landlords looking for an exit on non-core income.
It will also offer property owners a managed service to maximise outdoor media rentals, giving them the choice to receive income or capital.
Edifice, the UK’s largest manager of commercialisation rights for property owners, currently monetises space for landlords through the installation of billboards, digital screens and advertising towers, as well as on-site parcel lockers that enable consumers to pick up online purchases.
It currently manages space at more than 9,000 buildings, including the portfolios of three FTSE 100 and four FTSE 250 companies.
It also works for some of the UK’s largest property owners, including BT, Royal Mail, Travis Perkins, Punch Taverns, Henderson Global Investors and Topland.
Slow to tap into revenue
Commercial property owners have largely been slow to tap into the potential revenue streams available from outdoor and indoor media space across their portfolios.
“This is an incredibly disaggregated market providing a great opportunity for consolidation,” said Henley chief executive Ian Rickwood.
“We have plans to make the JV a sizeable investor in this category.
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“We like the Edifice opportunity because it presents information arbitrage where pricing is very opaque, and we have a model that can bring greater transparency.
“In Edifice, we have selected yet another innovative and exciting partner in a large, disaggregated market, and we look forward to announcing our first deals in the coming months.
“This business venture is a further demonstration of our commitment as an entrepreneurial firm to back other entrepreneurial businesses.”
Helney invest for 10% share in Edifice
The new platform will also see Henley invest for a 10% share in Edifice, which will originate deals for the JV sidecar fund.
Henley will also hold a place on Edifice’s board of directors.
Edifice chief executive Ryan Jarvis said:
“Edifice already manages the property portfolios for new revenue stream creation for some of the UK’s largest property owners, so the partnership with Henley will enable us to leverage that expertise to create new value for property owners.
“We can now enable property owners to have the choice to receive long-term revenues or to receive a one-off capital payment by moving the outdoor media market risk to our joint venture.”
The partnership is Henley’s ninth JV since its inception in 2006, including placemaking business Henley Camland.