Close Trading Companies acquires first self storage trade

Close Investments is delighted to announce the acquisition of their first self storage partnership, adding an additional trade to their Close Trading Companies ("CTC"), an Inheritance Tax efficient portfolio of qualifying trades.

The site is located at the Great Western Business Park in Worcester which is situated in an industrial area less than1 mile from Worcester town centre and has good road links with surrounding districts of Worcestershire and Herefordshire. Once completed the site will be operated by Storage King Europe Ltd ("Storage King") which has 45 self storage sites across England & Wales.

*In 2005 the UK self storage industry consisted of approximately 600 significant facilities (compared to approximately 41,000 facilities in the US) generating £310 million of revenues from over 200,000 customers. The market for UK self storage is estimated to have grown by approximately 10-15% between 2005 and 2006, with this rate of growth anticipated to continue into the future.

Steven Oliver, Close Investments Property, said: "By investing in this new self-storage site, we are delighted to be able to offer investors an additional trade within their CTC portfolios. Self-storage is a growing industry in the UK and investors will have seen the many self-storage sites opening up all over the country, as individuals accumulate increasing numbers of belongings which they need to store either in the short term, or for longer periods."

Close Trading Companies enables investors to invest into a new trading company of which they are the sole shareholder. Their company then invests in trading partnerships, jointly with other CTCs. By doing so, they will usually, under current leglislation, qualify for 100% Business Property Relief ("BPR") in two years, enabling them to fully protect the value of their investments from IHT.