Over the last seven years directors Tanya and Stephen McGeehan have successfully grown their property business MCG Investments Ltd into a burgeoning company, which continues to expand, looking at new opportunities and developing a strong brand in Belfast and NI.
For Managing Director, Tanya, property business is very much in the family DNA. She began managing her family’s property portfolio in 2009, following her father’s illness and sad passing to dementia in 2012.
Tanya is very much the face behind the business, which has grown from a young firm focused solely on buying, renovating, and selling its own properties to growing into a business which now also assists new clients and investors to acquire their own property portfolios.
The MCG Group now has shareholdings in five limited companies and four dedicated staff working closely with Tanya.
The business has enjoyed steady growth in recent years and 2022 was a very positive year, Tanya says- “Over the past 12 months, MCG Investments Ltd and our sister companies have delivered strong performances, displaying resilience and growth in the face of various market challenges,”
“With a focus on creating wealth through property, our portfolio building services, investment in development projects by our directors/partners, as well as several construction/project management jobs for clients, the company has performed exceptionally well.”
“Through effective leadership, the company has navigated through uncertain times while achieving notable success in acquiring property assets with a value today, worth in excess of £3m.”
Some of the firm’s highlights in the past year included:
1.STRONG GROWTH: 2023 has witnessed strong growth for the wider company’s buy to hold property portfolio. It’s strategic investments, specifically houses of multiple occupation (HMO) acquisitions, are yielding impressive returns, surpassing initial projections.
In Autumn 2022, MCG launched a new construction and project management service for clients, that provides renovations and extensions, from basic refurbishment jobs to double-storey extensions and more complex property transformations. This service has proven very popular with both individual clients and larger companies.
This unique service satisfies a demand from the public that previously fell between larger, more expensive developers and small building contractors who prefer to provide only basic labour and individual trades etc. By providing additional services including building control/planning requirements, interior design, architecture input, the MCG service has proven to be attractive and popular with clients who prefer a ‘one stop shop’ for their needs.
2 EXPANSION INTO COMMERCIAL PROPERTY: In the past twelve months, through the firm’s shareholding in TEM Investments Ltd, it has acquired and refurbished its first commercial premises at King House, Holywood. The company modernised the premises and has the vast majority of the 15 units tenanted after modernisation and the remaining units will be ready for new tenants soon.
3 PORTFOLIO BUILDING SERVICES: The company is now working with several high net-worth clients through company structures acquiring buy to let investment properties. One of the MCG client’s has acquired 13 properties with a market value in the region of £1m utilising less than £500,000 of company funds, leveraging debt and producing over £90,000 gross rental income at a yield of almost of 10%.
An example of a current client investment
Total company capital invested £406,000
Total monthly gross rent £7,550
Total annual gross rent £90,600
Portfolio gross yield 9.72%
Total gross return on capital employed (ROCE) 22.32%
MCG Investments offers a comprehensive property acquisition and development service, specifically designed for investors, aimed at unlocking attractive returns through a variety of carefully crafted property strategies. It’s diverse investment opportunities include the residential buy-to-let sector, buy-to-flip sector, commercial-to-residential sector and more recently, the commercial sector.
“We offer a hands-off portfolio building service, joint venture, property buying and construction project management services,” Tanya says.
“We understand that time is valuable and that a hassle-free streamlined approach to property portfolio building is crucial. We work with a variety of clients from individual investors looking to generate a passive income to high net worth individuals seeking to invest and grow their wealth. Increasingly we are also seeing new foreign investors who want to invest in Northern Ireland, taking advantage of the opportunities available here including competitive prices, as well as large corporations who want to diversify reserve funds into a different asset class.
We also work with clients who are time poor and require a renovation or refurbishment on their residential home or investment property. We take a strategic approach to project management, leveraging the expertise of our in-house contracting company MCG Construction Services. Our dedicated team of professionals offer a bespoke building and landscaping service, ensuring that every project is executed to the highest standards of quality and efficiency.”
MCG Investments says it is able to bring large businesses’ and potential investors a wide variety of expertise to help utilise excess cash and funds to generate an attractive return on investment. “The client confirms the level of funds they wish to invest and the MCG team manage the entire process from start to finish,” Tanya says.
“That includes the setting up of a separate special purpose vehicle (SPV) for their property acquisitions, identifying and acquiring the best investment opportunities through different property strategies, including standard buy-to-let properties, HMOs, commercial-to-residential schemes, mixed commercial and residential schemes, and social housing. We work with one of our partner brokers to manage the financing of all acquisitions, ensuring we secure the best products available – we will appoint and work directly with the conveyancing lawyers to ensure a speedy turnaround time. We plan and carry out all required refurbishment works to the property (if applicable), including the application and management of the statutory requirements to building control and/or planning. We oversee the interior design of the house, including the selection of kitchens, bathrooms, paint colours etc. We appoint the most suitable letting and management agent and we will approve the tenant for each property, to ensure the best type of tenants are appointed and maximum rental streams are being achieved.”
The business will arrange the re-finance of properties after the renovations have been completed to maximise equity in the SPV, to pre-agreed LTV levels, for the client. The client can be involved as little or as much as they wish, however they can be satisfied that the MCG team can take care of all of the above with minimum fuss.
“As a company we recognise the importance of acknowledging the economic climate and adapting to its demands,” Tanya says. “By leveraging our expertise and constantly evaluating market trends, we remain well positioned to thrive in the future!”.
Ulster Business Article >>> Read Here
Belfast Telegraph Article >>> Read Here
