Team - Ediston Property Investment Company

Investment Manager

Our Investment Manager, Ediston Real Estate, was founded in 2004 by Danny O’Neill. Ediston has maintained an impeccable track record in the UK property market and has a focused and talented team of real estate experts. One of the UK’s most active property companies, Ediston disinvested heavily during 2006 and 2007 in anticipation of a decline in property values, enabling it to emerge from the collapse financially sound, well respected and with no legacy issues with clients or UK banks.

For more information on Ediston, please visit www.ediston.com

Daniel O’Neill

BSc MRICS DIPPROPINV

Danny is founder and Chief Executive of Ediston and has 28 years’ experience in real estate markets.

Before founding Ediston in 2004, he was Investment Director at Standard Life Investments (SLI) where he was responsible for managing £2 billion of UK real estate assets, invested across three funds, for corporate and retail clients. He was a member of the UK Property Board at 28.

Danny launched Ediston in 2004. The company judiciously disinvested through 2006/2007 before successfully navigating through the 2008 downturn. Ediston runs a number of strategies including opportunistic, development, value-add and a core product through Ediston REIT (EPIC Plc).

At Ediston Danny is responsible for strategy, transacting investment opportunities, and for business growth.

Calum Bruce

BSC (HONS) MRICS

Calum is Fund Manager for Ediston Property Investment Company.

He joined Ediston from Scottish Widows Investment Partnership, where he was involved with both wholesale and institutional mandates. He was Fund Manager of the £160 million real estate portfolio of the Halifax Managed Income Fund, which aimed to provide an above-average income return and capital growth over the longer term. He was Deputy Fund Manager of LTGP Limited Partnership Incorporated, a pension fund with direct and indirect assets of approximately £750 million.

Prior to this appointment he worked on the SWIP Property Trust, an Authorised Property Unit Trust marketable to retail and institutional investors. He was involved from launch and in growing it from approximately £600 million to more than £1 billion in value.

Graham Lind

MA MSC MRICS

Graham is responsible for the acquisition and management of properties for the Company.

He has an agency and investment background, with previous experience in advising institutions and property companies on the acquisition and disposal of retail investments, particularly retail warehouse assets. Prior to joining Ediston in March 2015, he was Associate Partner at Wilkinson Williams, where he spent four years as an investment surveyor, and before that, had a similar role at JLL for seven years.

Yasemin McClelland

Asset Manager

Yasemin is an Asset Manager and also has responsibility for the Company’s ESG strategy. Prior to joining Ediston, Yasemin worked for Squarestone in a similar role. She was involved in all aspects of growing and managing a multi-sector UK wide portfolio. Prior to this, Yasemin worked for DTZ working across the agency, landlord and tenant, and valuation teams.

Yasemin holds an honours degree in Law and Sociology from Strathclyde University and a MSc in International Real Estate from the University of Glasgow.

Board of Directors

The Directors are all non-executive and independent of the Investment Manager. They are responsible for the determination of the investment policy of the Company and its overall supervision. The Directors are:

William Hill

Chairman

William Hill qualified as a Chartered Surveyor with Drivers Jonas in 1985. He left in 1989 to join Schroders and became head of its real estate investment division in 1991.

He successfully grew the business to over £10 billion of assets under management including managing and overseeing specialist and balanced real estate assets across the UK and continental Europe in private and listed funds and fund of funds. He also established a global REIT fund. He resigned from this position in November 2013 to set up his own consultancy business and undertake various non-executive roles.

He is a past chairman of the Association of Property Unit Trusts and re-joined its successor, the Association of Real Estate Funds, as SID in 2021. He is a member of the investment advisory committees of Guy’s and St Thomas’ Foundation, The Hargreaves Group, Bradda Capital, Ashby Capital LLP and The Goldsmiths’ Company. He is a board member of Old Oak Park Royal Development Corporation and chair of its planning committee. He is passionate about sustainability and has completed two courses at the Cambridge Institute of Sustainable Leadership.

He is a past master of the Worshipful Company of Chartered Surveyors and chair of the Chartered Surveyors Training Trust, a charity that is working to improve diversity and inclusion in the industry by promoting the built environment in schools.

Jamie Skinner

Marketing Committee, Nominations Committee and Remuneration Committee Chair

Jamie Skinner is a qualified accountant and a fellow of the Chartered Institute for Securities and Investment. Jamie joined Cazenove & Co in 1989 as a corporate finance executive working principally on investment companies and also other sector IPO activity, and in 1995 he was appointed Managing Director of the Johannesburg office.

In 1999 Jamie joined Martin Currie Investment Management Limited as a director and in 2014 was appointed Head of Client Services. Jamie served as President and CEO of The China Fund, Inc. until 2012, President and CEO of The Taiwan Fund, Inc. until 2014 and President of the Martin Currie Business Trust until 2015. Jamie also served on the boards of Martin Currie, Inc. and the Martin Currie Japan Absolute Return Fund up to his retirement from Martin Currie on 31 July 2018.

In addition to Ediston Property Investment Company plc, Jamie is a non-executive director of the Asian Opportunities Absolute Return Fund Limited, Baillie Gifford Shin Nippon and the Ashoka India Equity Investment Trust plc.

Imogen Moss

Senior Independent Director and Management Engagement Committee Chair

Imogen Moss is a qualified solicitor and was a partner for over 20 years at the international law firm, Allen & Overy LLP until her retirement in December 2020. She was the head of the global real estate practice from 2013 - 2020.

Imogen has over 30 years' experience in the real estate sector, advising UK and international institutional investors, private equity funds, sovereign wealth vehicles, real estate companies, public bodies and family offices on all types of complex commercial and residential real estate transactions.

From 2014 until 2018 Imogen was also on the Strategic Advisory Board of the Investment Property Forum.

Imogen is also a coach and mentor working with RARE, leaders in diversity graduate recruitment.

Karyn Lamont

Audit and Risk Committee Chair

Karyn is a chartered accountant, formerly a partner with PwC, where she spent over 25 years providing a range of audit and advisory services mainly within the financial services sector, including investment trust and property companies. Her key areas of expertise are accounting, controls assurance (including oversight of third-party service providers), corporate transactions, risk management, regulation and governance.

For over five years, Karyn has focused on a portfolio of non-executive appointments. She is currently non-executive director, and audit committee chair, at the North American Income Trust Plc, the Scottish American Investment Company Plc, Scottish Building Society and iomart Group plc.