Bidwells has launched Bidwells Investment Management, a new FCA-regulated investment management platform created to serve what the company describes as a growing gap in the UK real estate investment market.
The new platform, known as BIM, launches with £1.2 billion of assets and 19.7 million square feet of space under management. It operates as an appointed representative of Langham Hall Fund Management LLP, which is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority.
The company said the launch reflects increasing consolidation within investment management, where large global platforms dominate while ownership structures and property investment opportunities have become more fragmented and specialised.
Bidwells said many investors now fall between traditional advisory services and large-scale fund platforms, requiring more tailored support for complex portfolios, joint ventures and specialist investments.
BIM has been designed to provide bespoke investment advisory services, focusing on direct accountability and tailored mandates. The platform draws on Bidwells’ existing expertise in development, planning, capital markets, asset management and specialist market insight.
The new regulatory structure also allows BIM to provide services that require authorisation, including structuring joint venture partnerships, establishing corporate investment vehicles and advising on indirect property investments.
Bidwells said it has managed investment assets for endowment capital, particularly for Cambridge colleges, for more than a century, and that BIM now extends this experience to private wealth clients, institutions, family offices and international investors seeking specialist UK market exposure.
One of BIM’s first transactions involved advising Trinity College Cambridge on the acquisition of 2–8 Eastcheap, a 62,000 square foot mixed-use asset in the City of London, purchased through a joint venture with Greycoat.
The platform also advised on the sale of Trinity College Cambridge’s lease of the O2 Centre in London, following earlier work on lease restructuring and investment repositioning.
Robert Leadbetter, partner at Bidwells and Partner, Head of Investment Management at BIM, said:
“BIM has been launched in response to a clear shift in how real estate investment needs to be managed. The way people use real estate is evolving – fast. Understanding this change is essential to delivering return outperformance.
“Real estate investors today are participating in a fragmented market where traditional uses of property are being disrupted, and where the importance of previously “alternative” real estate sectors continues to grow.
“We believe professional investors seeking sector-specialist advice are underserved in this market. BIM was founded to address the gap, providing expert, tailored and regulated investment advice to professional clients.
“Bidwells has managed endowment capital for almost two centuries, and BIM allows us to bring that experience, investment management discipline and the ability to deliver across assets and portfolios to a much wider range of clients.”
