REAL ESTATE - Insight Investment plans to raise £100m (€148m) in new capital when it floats its real estate fund management business, Invista, on the junior AIM market this month. 

Former Hermes pensions chief executive Alistair Ross Goobey will join as chairman.

The HBOS fund management subsidiary will use the proceeds to launch new funds, develop portfolios and co-invest - probably with banks.

Invista has two new funds in the offing. Last year it recruited a European team ahead of the launch of its €313m European property fund. It is likely to float both this and a UK residential fund after the listing.

"There will be some investment in the UK but we're mostly looking at Europe," said a spokesman for the firm, adding that "in the course of time" the firm would also be looking in Central and Eastern European markets.

Duncan Owen will continue as Invista's CEO after the flotation. Ross Goobey, former CEO of Hermes Pension Management and current chairman of Hermes Focus Fund, will join as chairman.

HBOS will retain a stake of between 51%-60% in Invista and will continue to manage the real estate assets of third parties, including Clerical Medical.

The spokesman said: "HBOS is committed to the business. It wants to share in its future."

Invista currently has £8bn in assets under management in 15 funds spanning retail, office, industrial and residential.

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