Skye Bank Plc has explained the rationale behind the Skye Shelter Fund, an initiative geared towards housing development in Nigeria; saying its was informed by the eagerness of high net worth individuals to invest in the sector.

The SSF management team, led by Mr. Timothy Oguntayo, said that the initiative could not have come at any better time than now, when there is a conspicuous vacuum in the nation’s housing sector.
Oguntona said on Friday that most of the housing projects in the sector before now were undertaken by high net worth individuals who had enough funds to invest.

He however, said that the enormous amount of the funds required to service the housing needs of shelter consumers – individual, corporate and state – is beyond the financial capability of this category of investors; a development he said created a gap in the industry.
The disequilibrium created between the demand and supply forces, according to Oguntayo, informed Skye Bank to consider coming up with a concept that could best address the housing needs of the Nigerian populace, no matter their category or location. The N2bn SSF offer opened for subscription on the floor of the Nigerian Stock Exchange on Monday, July 23, 2007 and is expected to close August 29, 2007.

The Fund, dedicated to the real estate sector of the economy, is offering by way of subscription 20 million units of N100 each. It is a close-ended Real Estate Investment Trust scheme intended as a platform for pooling resources together from various classes of investors interested in exploring investment opportunities in real estate business but either lack sufficient capital to stand alone or lack the time and or expertise to act on its own for a profitable management. The offer, which is expected to run for six weeks, is the first tranche of a N5bn fund.