Knowles embarks on recruitment drive
PROPERTY entrepreneur Tim Knowles has said that he plans to double staff numbers at his Chorley-based business empire over the next 12 months by taking on an additional 200 people to manage distressed property assets.
Knowles, who is managing director of Chorley-based property development and management company, First Investments, said that the business had taken on 12 new staff within the past week as it geared up to win management mandates on behalf of banks, high net worth individuals and hedge funds with underperforming property assets.
He already employs 200 people in his business empire, but this includes the staff who work at the five-storey Botany Bay department store where First Investments is based.
Knowles argued that his firm’s experience in actively managing its own £600m portfolio meant that it was more effective than many of the property agencies – particularly in pooling tenant requirements to gain them better deals on insurance and utilities.
“Once you delegate management, you lose a certain element of control. It doesn’t really matter in the good times – whether you’re a good manager or a bad manager, yield shift deals with it. But when the preverbial hits the fan, there’s no reason for a bank or financial institution to stick with you if you haven’t got good management in place.”
He said that First Investments has already won a remit to manage a £2bn protfolio of distressed assets, but declined to name the company for whom it was working, stating that the deal was subject to confidentiality agreements.
he said that there is currently “something like £600bn” of distressed property assets in England which need to be managed – £50bn of which is in dire straits.
“In the 29 years I have been in business I have never seen anything like the opportunities which are now presenting themselves to a property management company like ours,” he said.
“There’s enough work to go around. What we’ve got to do is be choosy in what we take on.”
Knowles’s own property empire has taken something of a hit this year as LPA receivers were appointed to 14 properties owned in a vehicle known as ProInvest LLP after it defaulted on a £71m loan. However, at the same time he also managed to successfully refinance around £240m worth of commercial mortgage-backed securities.
“I’ve no regrets. There’s always going to be mistakes that you make and we’ve lost a bit of money but that’s life.
“If you ask me how I am about it, I’m happy,” he said. He declined to say whether he’d bought any of the assets back, adding that it was “in the past, but I’m not upset about it”.
“We’re clean, mean and we’re moving forwards,” said Knowles.
