Dukemount Capital closes in on first property acquisitions

Dukemount Capital shares rose after the property developer inked a binding partnership arrangement with social housing specialists Larch Housing Association worth a minimum of £5m.

The London based firm, which has identified and is carrying out due diligence on the first two properties, will buy properties on the basis that Larch first agreed to a 50-year lease at 6.5% per year.

Dukemount, which is a player in the supported living sector, will develop the first acquisition into several apartments and expect to make a further announcement in the coming weeks, once due diligence is complete.

This initial £5m deal is the first aimed at filling the company's pipeline, though it will not develop all the properties it buys.

Company executive chairman Geoffrey Dart said, "We are at a stage in the first acquisition where we feel confident of updating our shareholders of meaningful progress.

"As we are developing this asset ourselves it should produce additional earnings to Dukemount as although an acquisition from a property developer will be quicker, they will have already taken a profit from the development - as the asset is held by trustees in a large organisation, the process has been a little more complicated than we would expect to encounter with other acquisitions," he said.

"The second acquisition is, so far, a more straightforward deal and I look forward to updating shareholders on this in the very near future. We continue to be, approached by a number of housing associations and development providers around the UK and look forward to updating shareholders when appropriate."

As of 1120 BST, shares in Dukemount were 0.46p – up 15%.