One to Watch: Hansteen

HANSTEEN'S principal activities comprise property investment, development, management and all associated businesses, primarily focused on industrial property in continental Europe.

Hansteen

75p -1p

Scotsman says HOLD

Hansteen was founded in 2005 by Ian Watson and Morgan Jones, who had previously run Ashtenne, which was sold in 2005 to Warner Estate. Hansteen was listed in 2005 to invest in UK and European industrial assets.

Ashtenne aimed to turn around under-managed difficult assets and recycled capital and the new company is following a similar modus operandi.

Over the past 18 months, Hansteen has raised about 200million from equity issues, some of which it applied in the purchase of an 18 per cent stake in the aforementioned Warner Estate.

Hansteen was the subject of a favourable investment review by Bank of America/Merrill Lynch which, while positive, stressed that the company is still in its relative infancy, notwithstanding the experience gleaned by its founding fathers.

The eldest heir to my overdraft – a chartered surveyor in Budapest – commented recently that undoubtedly mainland European property markets are quite "interesting", even if the underlying national economic prospect, in some instances at least, is less than very encouraging. Many other "experts" believe there are opportunities across the European property divide and Hansteen's founders do have an impressive pedigree.

Any prospective investors must understand the risk dimension, of course, but for those interested in investigating the European property scene, Hansteen may be worth a look; the shares offer a reasonable prospective yield of about 4 per cent.

• The value of your investment could fall and you may get back less than you invested. You should take professional advice if you have any doubt about the suitability of this company for your portfolio.