Resolution Property is to launch a EUR 1 bn investment programme focused on providing equity to unlock added-value investment opportunities and developments in the UK and Continental Europe that have stalled due to the constrained supply of bank finance.

Top of Resolution's UK target list are good town centre locations with strong demographics and the potential to add value to shopping centre and leisure investments or support retail and mixed-use developments of a scale and quality to create new destinations. Resolution is also actively pursuing office and residential projects in London and the Southeast.

On the Continent, Resolution is targeting France, Germany, Poland and possibly Spain, Benelux and Scandinavia, for retail, office and selected mixed-use investments valued between EUR 30 mln and EUR 130 mln. The company may also look very selectively at major city markets in Central Europe as well as residential property.

Peter Todd, director of Resolution, said: 'Our investment in assets like the Waterfront shopping centre in Bremen and Galeria Pomorska in Poland illustrate how access to new equity can add value through refurbishment, extension and re-letting. The opportunity to add value or to kick-start completely new development will be central to our Continental investment strategy going forward.'

Resolution will seek to use the remainder of its Resolution Real Estate Fund III to provide equity to bridge the debt funding gap on projects, working with the incumbent owners or developers as either joint-venture partners or development managers.

Robert Wolstenholme, director of Resolution, said: 'A typical UK project would require between £10 mln and £75 mln of equity to kick-start development. We can fund schemes to a point where they become financeable or in some cases provide 100% equity finance.'