HELICAL Bar Plc, a United Kingdom developer that's building offices for the government and for Man Group Plc, is seeking investing partners to buy real estate in Britain as prices fall, Chief Executive Officer Mike Slade said yesterday.

"You have got to have some courage if you're buying at a time when everyone is running the other way," Slade told Bloomberg News.

Helical is in talks with potential partners and aims to work with a sovereign wealth fund or a "major global fund," he said.

UK real estate values have fallen 18 percent since peaking in June 2007, according to Investment Property Databank Ltd. British property stocks had their worst performance in 20 years in the second quarter.

Helical Bar may purchase land sites that currently have little or no value in the City of London, the UK capital's main financial district, said Slade.

The company may also try to acquire a real estate investment trust.

"The company will be completely transformed," said Slade, who is experiencing the fourth recession of his career.

To help finance the acquisitions, Helical plans to raise 200 million pounds (US$403 million) in the next 18 months by selling assets, Slade said.

Investors in Helical Bar have had an annualized return of more than 25 percent a year, including dividends and return of capital, since Slade joined the company in August 1984, according to analysts at JPMorgan Chase & Co. That compares with the average annual return of 5.7 percent achieved over the same period by the 32 companies compared by JPMorgan.

Helical has slumped 45 percent in the past year, 5 percentage points more than the FTSE 350 Real Estate Index. The drop has cut the company's market value to 263 million pounds. Slade is the biggest shareholder with a stake of about 14 percent.