£400k NPIF investment builds bright future for property management business
An award-winning Manchester property management business has received a £400,000 investment from NPIF – FW Capital Debt Finance, part of the Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund (NPIF), to support its further expansion.
Set up by managing director Michael Howard in 2008, urbanbubble provides a full range of residential property management services and now manages more than 8,000 properties across 90 residential schemes, predominantly in the Manchester and Liverpool areas.
The firm has recently secured a key contract with Legal & General to support the growth of its build to rent residential portfolio which will see significant expansion for the business into regions outside the North West.
It is also preparing for the launch of leading schemes in Manchester and Liverpool by Salboy, Property Alliance Group, Mulbury, DTZi and Capital & Centric.
Group turnover last year reached more than £3m and is on target to reach around £4m this year, with headcount increasing from 120 to 250 in the next two years
Mr Howard said: “The funding from FW Capital will be used to invest in people, systems and processes to ensure that strong operational structures are in place to support this next phase of development.
“We’re really pleased to have received investment from the Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund with FW Capital providing a quick and efficient service.”
FW Capital investment executive Adam Husband said urbanbubble has worked very hard to build strong strategic relationships with some of the biggest names in the real estate market.
“Michael’s commercial acumen has been demonstrated by the growth of the business to date and he has built a really strong management team around him. This investment will support significant job creation and growth for the business and the region.”
The Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund project is supported financially by the European Union using funding from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) as part of the European Structural and Investment Funds Growth Programme 2014-2020 and the European Investment Bank.
