We are pursuing claims on behalf of investors in Home Reit
“But what’s it say about the board and Alvarium? Well, one thing for certain: they deserve to be on the end of a shareholder lawsuit being brought by Harcus Parker.”
The Times, 21 December 2023
We are pursuing claims on behalf of investors in Home Reit
“The [housing providers] were making decisions, which, if it was a purely rational business perspective, you would wonder why they would sign that lease,” said Jonathan Walters, deputy chief executive at the Regulator of Social Housing.
“It looked as though there was a transfer of risk to an unsophisticated counterparty, which is left with a business model that is very risky and is probably going to fail. Then you have vulnerable individuals put in properties that are probably not sustainable in the long term.”
Investment Week, 7 June 2023
We are pursuing claims on behalf of investors in Home Reit
“Yesterday’s initial findings of the much awaited wrongdoing report marked a complete 360 on Home REIT’s previous statements to the market and somehow left an exasperated investor base scratching their heads with yet more questions.”
City AM, 31 May 2023
We are pursuing claims on behalf of investors in Home Reit
“We ask the Government to set out how it will clamp down on those exploiting the lease-based model for profit and prohibit lease-based profit-making schemes from being set up.”
Report by the House of Commons Levelling Up, Housing and Communities Committee, 27 October 2022
We are pursuing claims on behalf of investors in Home Reit
“Several real-estate investment trusts (Reits) … have sprung up over the past few years all promising the same thing: to provide homes for those most in need while at the same time delivering healthy returns for their investors. If that sounds too good to be true, many think that it is.”
Investors Chronicle, 22 August 2022
JOIN THE CLAIM
There is no cost to register to join the claim.
The more investors who register, the stronger the legal action will be.
Hundreds of investors have already joined the claim.
What has happened?
Home REIT’s share price fell by approximately 70% in the calendar year through to the end of 2022 following allegations and media reports about how the company was operating and accuracy of the company’s reporting to the market. On 3rd January 2023, the company announced a temporary suspension to the listing of its shares. Trading in the shares has been suspended for more than a year.
On 20 December 2023, the company announced a “a very material reduction in the valuation of the Company’s property portfolio with the August 2023 valuation representing 42.26% of the unaudited historical acquisition costs …”, and “[i]nitial evidence … indicates a larger than expected proportion of the portfolio is private rented sector … rather than homeless accommodation backed by exempt rents from local authorities”.
Many investors have either realised losses on their investments or are sitting on losses if they still hold their investments.
WHAT ARE WE DOING?
Harcus Parker are acting for hundreds of investors in Home REIT to pursue claims for damages. The investors who have joined the claim include individuals who had hundreds of pounds invested through to institutional investors with many millions.
The claims are statutory securities claims under the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000, deceit, and for negligent misrepresentation. The Defendants include Home REIT, the company’s directors, its former investment adviser (Alvarium Home REIT Advisors Limited), former alternative investment fund manager (or “AIFM”) (Alvarium Fund Managers (UK) Limited), and others in the AlTi Global group.
The misrepresentations made to investors which form the basis of the claim cover a range of issues we have identified through our own investigations and disclosures made by the company in recent months, including:
- Home REIT’s business model;
- the company’s social impact;
- the financial strength of Home REIT’s tenants;
- the quality and use of Home REIT’s property portfolio; and
- the valuation of Home REIT’s property portfolio.
We have sent a Letter of Claim to the Defendants setting out our clients’ case. This is required before Court proceedings are commenced under the Civil Procedure Rules.
We are acting on a fully contingent (“no win, no fee”) basis, such that we would only be remunerated if the claims are successful.
WHO IS ELIGIBLE?
Anyone who has held or continues to hold shares in Home REIT, either directly or through an intermediary, is eligible to join the claim.
PROBLEMS WITH HOME REIT’S SOCIAL IMPACT
Home REIT informed investors that it would invest their money in “high-quality homeless accommodation” and that its investment strategy would seek to “exclusively tackle homelessness”. The homepage of its website states that it is “dedicated to fighting homelessness through funding the acquisition and creation of high quality accommodation”. Investors reasonably assumed that this is what the company would do with their money.
However, we have identified that properties owned by Home REIT have been found by local authorities to be unsuitable for housing vulnerable individuals, or are being advertised for students and professionals, and even as holiday lets. In addition, we have found evidence that the company has been overpaying for property, allowing substantial profits to be made by those who are selling property to the company.
In December 2023, Home REIT published an RNS updating investors on its review of its property portfolio. In this, the company acknowledged that a higher proportion of the properties than it expected were being use for purposes other than the provision of homeless accommodation. Given concerns about Home REIT’s business were first raised in 2022, the fact that taken the company more than 12 months reach a better understanding of how its properties are being used, this naturally brings into focus Home REIT’s managements’ oversight of its operations, as well as the basis on which investors were informed that their money would be used to contribute to the alleviation of homelessness.
PROTECTING SHAREHOLDER VALUE
Harcus Parker is seeking to articulate the claim in a way which protects the remaining shareholder value in Home REIT.
Charity Partnership
We will pay a proportion of our fee to a charity whose aims include the provision of accommodation to vulnerable individuals, or the provision of advice and support to homeless people or people at risk of homelessness. More details about our charity partnership will be announced in due course.
NOTICE FOR INSTITUTIONAL INVESTORS
The online registration process has been designed for individual investors who invested on their own behalf or on behalf of one or more entities that acquired shares (e.g., joint holdings, trust, partnership, company/corporation). If you are an institutional investor or an aggregator, you should contact us directly via homereit@harcusparker.co.uk and provide us with your contact details.
Please note: An “institutional investor” is a large corporation in the investment or fund management business.
