Evans headhunts top City real estate banker to be new MD

Ian Marcus takes over from John Bell, who is retiring after 18 years in the post.

The family-owned Leeds business controls property assets worth around £600m.

Mr Marcus is the former head of European real estate investment banking at Credit Suisse and currently chairs the Bank of England’s commercial property forum.

He said: “I am thrilled to take up this appointment. The company is very well positioned to take advantage of what remains a fragile and volatile market.”

He has worked with the Evans family for two decades, as a lender, a consultant and more recently a non-executive director.

Roderick Evans, chairman of the UK business, said: “We are delighted to welcome Ian to the company.

“He brings significant experience and talent which will enable us to continue to expand the group, exploring opportunities across all sectors, utilising his skills and contacts, combined with our considerable in-house property investment and development expertise.”

Evans Property Group sold half of its property portfolio prior to the crash in 2007.

Mr Bell explained that the board wanted to simplify the group, which held a lot of assets requiring intensive management.

The board was also becoming concerned at the increasing price of secondary and tertiary properties. He said: “That made us believe that something would have to give. Because we held so much secondary and tertiary and because prices were so high it seemed the right time to sell.

“We were not good sellers at Evans. We had long hard debates about whether we were selling the family silver.”

Had the group held on, the value of its assets would have halved, said Mr Bell.

Mr Marcus said the decision to sell “will be seen as a milestone in this company’s history”.

Evans Property Group has kept its best assets, including the freehold of the White Rose shopping centre and 1 Park Row in Leeds, home to Pinsent Masons and Rothschild. The group’s Yorkshire interests are worth between £350m and £400m. It has significant residential and commercial investments in and around York.

Mr Marcus, whose family is from Leeds, said the wider real estate market remains very challenging.

He added: “The economy is fragile and volatile and to a certain extent the UK is not really in control of its own destiny in terms of the European situation and the global crisis which continues.

“The property industry is a reflection of that. Expansion of space only comes when the economy is expanding.”

But he said there are opportunities in emerging real estate markets such as student accommodation, leisure, business services, self storage, data centres and health care as well as in traditional property investment.

He expects the market to remain subdued for the medium term. In these conditions, he said it is important to look after existing customers and manage liabilities as well as assets.

“What Evans has done very well over five or six years is reduce its leverage,” he said.

The group’s net asset value is around £360m. The Evans family took the quoted company private in 1999 with net assets of £79m. It sold around £600m worth of properties in 2006 and 2007.

Gearing is now around 33 per cent and the group holds “significant” cash reserves.

The group has opened an office in Jermyn Street in London and has invested in the capital.

But it has also been “gazumped” on occasion by super-wealthy overseas investors, said Mr Evans.

Mr Marcus said the gap between London and the rest of the country is widening, as is the gap between prime and other property classes.

He added: “London is the global city, without any question. London is seen as a safe haven. Whether it’s the Arab Spring or the eurozone crisis, it is the first port of call for many people who want to move capital.”

But there are also opportunities in the UK regions, he said. “The world does not stop at the Watford Gap. Just watch what happens with Meadowhall. That’s attracting enormous interest from sovereign wealth funds in the market because they know it’s a prime asset.” Investment properties must have very strong covenants and be the best in class in their location and sector, he added.

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