13 Oct Atlas, Ghassan and Merrick launch Joint Venture
Atlas Residential, the Chicago headquartered international serviced apartment developer and manager, has formed a new venture with Ghassan Holding Group (GHG) of Saudi Arabia and London-based Merrick Real Estate to acquire, develop, own and manage private residential schemes internationally.
The venture will fund projects using its own cash and also invite other suitable investors to participate in individual developments which it will then hold as long term investments.
Atlas’s Chief Executive, Steve Ivankovich and Merrick’s Managing Director Mark Norris, believe that this is the perfect time to bring together their resources and skills to fuel the demand for high quality rental accommodation as residential ownership patterns change and economic growth returns to international economies, meeting increasing investor demand for Multi-Family Rental Apartment schemes – as the sector is commonly known in the US.
Ivankovich said, “The venture brings together the perfect motivation, experience, culture, and staff to make it a real success through combining sector knowledge, customer service, investment capacity and asset management expertise. The serviced apartment sector is very rewarding at the moment and we are well-positioned to get off to a flying start”.
Mark Norris stated that: “Merrick’s focus on this sector is backed by substantial funding from GHG which will enable us to develop and deliver schemes from scratch, and there will also be projects where we will invite other investors and lenders to join with us in this exciting initiative. We confidently expect that we can achieve attractive IRR’s and income yields on all of our projects over a 5 year period”.
The venture will initially focus on the UK, opportunistic international deals with a further eye to expand into continental European markets over time.