Stephen Jaffe

Stephen Jaffe FRICS

Stephen is the Managing Director of Plus Shops Ltd where he is responsible for the direction of the company and the strategy of the group. In particular he focuses his skills on the acquisition and management of the Shopping Centre investments. He is confident that the Company’s "personal service" for both clients and tenants will continue to produce above average returns for investors.

After receiving a Diploma in Urban Estate Management at The Polytechnic of Central London in 1973, he started his property career in 1973 with Abbey Life, where he was an Investment Surveyor for the Abbey Property Bond.

In 1974 he moved to Canada Life. As their Property Manager he took their assets from £12m to £150m by 1985. He qualified in 1975 as an ARICS and received his fellowship in 1980 (FRICS).

In 1986 with David Houghton he launched Speciality Shops Plc with the backing of Institutional Investors and quickly built up a portfolio of Speciality Centres. The Company introduced direct, in-house and intensive management to the UK. During the early nineties, Speciality Shops expanded into larger and more traditional schemes, including the Waverley Shopping Centre in Edinburgh. They also undertook management work for institutional clients. Speciality Shops Plc floated on the London Stock Exchange in 1994 and then continued with the policy of buying larger properties such as Victoria Place, London and ShopStop, Clapham.

In 1997 Speciality Shops merged with Conrad Ritblat to form Milner Estates Plc. Stephen was appointed Managing Director of its Property Company. During the next two years, the Shopping Centre portfolio expanded and he launched the Norwich Union Milner Retail Partnership which placed £100m of Shopping Centres in a Limited Partnership.

Stephen resigned from Milner in late 1999, when the Company was acquired by Delancey Estates.

In January 2000 he established Shops etc with David Houghton and finance to acquire centres on behalf of investors was put in place that September. During the next two years, three Shopping Centres were acquired for £100m, intensively managed, and sold at a substantial profit in March 2004. The investment return (IRR) in excess of 56%, together with the recent growth in the Company amply demonstrates the success of the management approach first started in the 1980s

Outside of his main love.... retailing, Stephen is chair of the Hammersmith Business Improvement District Steering Group, a member of the RICS Voluntary Surveyors, a chair of London Borough Richmond Schools Appeals Panel and Director of XYZ Ltd.

Living in Richmond, Stephen has been married to Rosemary for (a blissful) 32years and has three (expensive) sons. He enjoys tennis (moderately), swimming and cycling (enthusiastically) and skiing (obsessively). He suffers West Ham, but compensates his continuing frustrations with big dollops of the cinema, theatre and travel together with his passion for industrial memorabilia (hence his long standing relationship with David Houghton).

Email: sjaffe@plusshops.co.uk