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Maven raises GBP7m for BPRA qualifying hotel development in Glasgow

Maven Capital Partners, a private equity and alternative asset manager, has secured GBP7 million of funding for a hotel development using the benefits of Business Premises Renovation Allowance (BPRA).

The deal will see the purchase of Telfer House, an empty office building in Glasgow’s Merchant City, for refurbishment into a 96-bedroom ibis Styles hotel, which will be managed by the UK’s largest specialist hotel management company, RedefineBDL.
 
The deal represents Maven’s second hotel refurbishment project in the past year using the tax incentives available from BPRA. In April 2013, Maven secured a GBP4.6 million funding package for the redevelopment of the former Clarence Hotel in Llandudno, North Wales, into an 82-bedroom Travelodge hotel.
 
BPRA, which was introduced in 2007 and remains in force until at least April 2017, is available for refurbishing empty commercial properties in qualifying areas – offering 100 per cent initial capital allowances for the costs incurred on, or in connection with, the renovation.
 
Alongside VCT and EIS investment, BPRA offers an attractive but relatively little known tax-planning opportunity and, with the right investment structure and a high quality underlying asset, can provide significant tax savings for higher rate income tax payers.
 
The hotel sector in Glasgow has shown strong performance on the back of high corporate and leisure demand for accommodation in the city, which is a leading event and conference destination. The Merchant City area of Glasgow is a key leisure destination with a wide range of restaurants and bars, upmarket shops and popular event venues, but with few hotels.
 
Work will commence on the site shortly, with the development due to open for business in the summer of 2015.
 
Ramsay Duff of Maven says: “We are delighted to have secured this opportunity for our investors, offering useful tax incentives with a high quality underlying property asset. We remain supportive of the aim of BPRA of bringing empty buildings back into use and continue to believe that properly structured BPRA deals can provide attractive tax-based investments for suitably qualified investors. BPRA investments, particularly high-quality ones such as this, are hard to find and harder still to bring to fruition.”

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