Tom Hunter’s Sigma Capital to build 1,000 homes

SIGMA Capital, the property investment firm in which Ayrshire entrepreneur Sir Tom Hunter holds a 22 per cent stake, has been given planning permission by Liverpool City Council to build 1,000 houses.

Sir Tom Hunter controls 22% of investment vehicle Sigma. Picture: Robert Perry

Regeneration Liverpool, a joint venture between Sigma and the council, will construct the properties for the rental market, as part of a wider plan to erect or renovate 5,000 homes.

The joint venture already has planning permission for around 800 homes in the Norris Green area of the city.

Finance for the latest project will come from an equity fund being developed by Sigma, which will also invest in other schemes in the north-west of England and the Midlands.

Sigma chief executive Graham Barnet said: “We are aiming to bring the fund to fruition by the time of our half-year results in September.”

In last month’s full-year results, Sigma revealed that it is targeting “institutional and private equity finance” for its residential property projects. At the time, the firm said: “Our work on developing a funding model has the potential to significantly accelerate the group’s growth.”

Sigma was founded in 1996 and joined the Alternative Investment Market (Aim) in 2000. Its other property investments include the Winchburgh new town in West Lothian.

The firm also manages four venture funds – which hold stakes in companies including wave power developers Aquamarine and Pelamis – and in 2011 spun out Frontier IP, which helps universities commercialise inventions, as a separate business listed on Aim.