Bill Hunter, a previous head of life sciences at Thor Equities, said US-based Outshine launched at the end of 2020 and manages a total of 1 mln ft2 of assets in North America, which could easily go to 3 mln ft2 given current talks to buy further assets.

Asked about his intentions towards Europe, the Outshine principal said: ‘We will be over in Europe within the next 12 months.’

Speaking with PropertyEU within a feature on Alternative and Specialised Assets, Hunter said the firm launched in New York with co-founder and former Thor colleague, Jonathan Scheinberg, who between them have 35 years of life science and medical office experience.

During their careers, they have acquired and managed over 25 properties valued at over $4 bn (€3.3 bn).

Hunter said: ‘I am a huge fan of western Europe. The only thing it lacks in my opinion is the government-sponsored component of funding that is the most important factor in the US. I would say the UK is about 15 years behind the US in understanding the third-party life sciences ownership model, but it is quickly evolving.'

He added, ‘One of the benefits of the Covid crisis is that governments will see merit in sponsoring research to stay ahead of the curve.’

He believes existing facilities will be rationalising in the UK as the sector evolves further. In the US, owner-occupied space is shifting towards a decentralised research campus model, and his experience lies in taking premises with single tenants to create multi-tenanted operational strategies for those campuses, which become clusters in and of themselves.

‘The companies that have done asset rationalisation strategies in the US are now looking at the UK,’ he said.