Hobbs property investment fund updates prospectus

Property fund manager Brendan Investments yesterday published the supplementary prospectus for its first fund.

Property fund manager Brendan Investments yesterday published the supplementary prospectus for its first fund.

The publication, available on the company's website, triggers a 48-hour window during which investors can walk away from the fund with a full refund. The right to withdraw expires at the close of business today.

Brendan Investments Pan European Property was launched by TV personality and director of the firm Eddie Hobbs last month.

The main feature of the new prospectus is an updated analysis of the property markets in Germany, the UK, Portugal and the Republic by property consultants CB Richard Ellis (CBRE).

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Brendan Investments was criticised for basing its original business plan on a CBRE report published in August 2006.

Mr Hobbs did not return calls for comment last night.

The other directors of the fund are Vincent Regan, Hugh O'Neill and Pat Owens.

Mr Owens, who has been appointed in a non-executive capacity, was a property adviser to Quinnsworth (now Tesco) and has been involved in property projects in London, Portugal and the Caribbean, which the prospectus says were worth more €1 billion. His appointment was revealed in the new documentation.

The maximum subscription that an investor can make is now 75,000 units or €750,000, up from €200,000 in the original prospectus. Brendan Investments plans to invest 60 per cent of the funds in German property, 15 per cent in UK property, 15 per cent in development projects in Portugal, and the remaining 10 per cent in Irish developments.

The promoters are hoping to raise between €10 million and €250 million, which will be used to leverage three times that amount from banks. The fund has a 10-year life.

The updated CBRE analysis notes that European property has performed "well" in the intervening 12 months despite the significant rise in interest rates.

An amendment to the initial prospectus suggests that Brendan Investments will not get involved in Irish projects until later in the life of the fund.

"The CBRE update indicates that yields have remained stagnant in the Irish market during the first half of 2007, and in the absence of yield contraction, total returns are likely to be less than that achieved in Ireland last year," the new prospectus states.

The fund's directors stand to earn tens of millions of euro in fees and bonuses if the fund doubles in value over its lifespan.