Former owners to buy back £300m Edinburgh scheme

The former owners of the Caltongate site in Edinburgh are poised to buy it back from administrators in a bid to revive the controversial £300 million development.

Former Mountgrange Capital directors Manish Chande and Martin Myers have raised £300 million for a new property fund and are keen to put the controversial development back on track.

Caltongate is now owned by Deloitte, Mountgrange Capital's administrator.

Deloitte is not marketing the site because of the collapse in property values.

Mountgrange's annual accounts this year valued the Caltongate site at just over £20m, way below the £45m at it was worth at its peak.

However, with recent forecasts indicating the property market will not begin to recover until 2011 it is understood Deloitte will listen to offers.

Planning permission for the site expires in 2013.

Chande and Myers original development for Caltongate, which is on Unesco’s list of World Heritage Sites, included a five-star hotel, shops, offices and homes, was opposed by local activists.

The pair’s new vehicle, Mountgrange Real Estate Opportunity Fund, has raised the £300 million from investors including oil-rich sovereign wealth funds, endowment and pension funds and rich individuals.