Babergh and Mid Suffolk District Councils
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Agenda and minutes

Venue: King Edmund Chamber, Endeavour House, 8 Russell Road, Ipswich. View directions

Items
No. Item

9.

APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE

Minutes:

None.

2.

DECLARATION OF INTERESTS

Minutes:

2.1               There were no declarations of interests.

 

3.

TO RECEIVE NOTIFICATION OF PETITIONS IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE COUNCIL'S PETITION SCHEME

Minutes:

3.1               None received.

4.

QUESTIONS BY THE PUBLIC

To consider questions from and provide answers to members of the public on any matter in relation to which the Committee has powers or duties and of which due notice has been given in accordance with the Committee and Sub-Committee Procedures Rules.

Minutes:

4.1               None received.

 

5.

QUESTIONS BY COUNCILLORS

To consider questions from and provide answers to Councillors on any matter in relation to which the Committee has powers or duties and of which due notice has been given in accordance with the Committee and Sub-Committee Procedure Rules.

Minutes:

5.1                None received.

6.

JOS/19/1 CAPITAL INVESTMENT FUND COMPANY ('CIFCO CAPITAL LTD') BUSINESS TRADING AND PERFORMANCE REPORT 2018/19 pdf icon PDF 666 KB

Councillor David Busby Chair BDC (Suffolk Holdings) Ltd

Councillor Gerard Brewster Chair of MSDC (Suffolk Holdings) Ltd

 

 

 

Minutes:

6.1               The Assistant Director for Assets and Investments introduced the Board Members and Advisors:

 

Name

Position

Chris Haworth

Chair CIFCO Capital Ltd

Mark Sargeantson

Chair CIFCO Capital Ltd

Rick Meyer

Director-elect CIFCO Capital Ltd

Nigel Golder

Director- Strategic Asset Management, JLL (Advisers to CIFCO Capital Ltd)

Neville Pritchard

Director- Capital Markets, JLL

 

 

 

6.2           Chris Haworth, Chair of CIFCO Capital Ltd. provided the first part of the presentation which covered a summary of the current portfolio, the purpose of the CIFCO Business Plan, and Key Performance Indicators.

 

6.3           Neville Pritchard, Director – Capital Market, Jones La Salle Ltd (JLL) then detailed the current market for business properties.  He stated that currently there was £65 billion transaction in the housing market, which had been slowed down by Brexit, but was now slowly increasing again as the market gained confidence. 

 

6.4           Industrial properties performed best, as industrial units were used for a multitude of purposes including mail order distributions units.

 

6.5           Office suites also performed well in the market, and the view was to focus on office units and industrial property.  A good location applied to tenants and in combination with a long lease, would make industrial units prospective assets to increase the property portfolios.

 

6.6           Nigel Golder, Director- Strategic Asset Management, JLL (Advisers to CIFCO Capital Ltd) then continued the presentation, including investment strategy and sector targets,

 

6.7           The Assistant Director for Assets and Investments presented the Council’s capital and revenue in relation to CIFCO.

 

6.8           Councillor Grandon asked why CIFCO invested in the high street retail market, when it was performing less favourable and if national retailers negotiated individual rental agreements for their branches.

 

6.9           Neville Pritchard responded that the property in question was mostly food orientated store. These kind of stores perform better than the other high street stores. The unit also had the potential to be divided into smaller units, should the current tenant serve notice. It was agreed that food stores were a strong asset to have in the property portfolio.

 

6.10       Councillor McCraw reminded Members that risk management had been undertaken and that that this part for the business set-up had been scrutinised last year.

 

6.11       Councillor Caston enquired if carparks were included in the respective properties with car parks and it was confirmed that in principle most of the carparks were included.

 

6.12       Councillor Scarff was concerned that the increase in councils investing in business properties were inflating the business property market.

 

6.13       Neville Pritchard responded that the investments that councils made were only a small portion of the investment market, around £3 billons of the £65 billion invested in the property market.

 

6.14       Mark Sargeantson added when CIFCO was bidding for a property the purchase had to fulfil certain criteria otherwise CIFCO would withdraw from the process.

 

6.15       Councillor Welham enquired how optimistic the Director were in negotiating rent increase as there currently was breakdown in rents in the high street retail sector.

 

6.16       Nigel Golder explained that every six- moths CIFCO had face to  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.

7.

RESOLUTION TO EXCLUDE THE PUBLIC (WHICH TERM INCLUDES THE PRESS)

To consider, whether, pursuant to Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972 the public be excluded from the meeting for the business specified below on the grounds that if the public were present during this item, it is likely that there would be the disclosure to them of exempt information as indicated against theitem.

The authors of the report propose to be considered in Part 2 of the Agenda are satisfied that the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information.

PART 2

MATTERS TO BE CONSIDERED WITH THE PRESS AND PUBLIC EXCLUDED

 

 

Minutes:

By a unanimous vote

 

It was Resolved: -

 

That under section 100(4) of the Local Government Act 1972 the public be excluded from the meeting for the following item on the grounds that it involves the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Act in the paragraph registered against the item.

 

8.

PART 2 APPENDIX A - DRAFT CIFCO CAPITAL LTD BUSINESS PLAN 2019/20 (CONFIDENTIAL)

Councillor David Busby Chair BDC (Suffolk Holdings) Ltd

Councillor Gerard Brewster Chair of MSDC (Suffolk Holdings) Ltd

 

Members are asked to comment on the Business Plan