Minerva and Northacre will acquire the Odeon, High Street Kensington, for £24 million.

The site, comprising 0.86 acres is well located just opposite the Commonwealth Institute and south of Holland Park. Its central and prominent location along with strong transport links will ensure good demand for the scheme. This will be further enhanced by the general shortage of consented prime residential sites in Kensington and Chelsea.

Subject to the outcome of planning, Minerva and Northacre plan a high-quality mixed-use landmark scheme to include a new multi-screen cinema with prime residential apartments on the upper floors together with underground parking.

The transaction cements a long-term business association between Salmaan Hasan, Chief Executive of Minerva plc, and John Hunter, founding partner and Chief Executive of Northacre plc.

Debt for the deal is to be provided by Deutsche Postbank, London.

Salmaan Hasan commented: "This transaction provides us with the opportunity to create significant value through planning and subsequent redevelopment in a prime international location. It is in line with our strategy of diversifying our investment programme across market segments."

In Northacre, we now have a partnership with London's best-known prime residential brand, renowned for its well-established track record in producing high-quality residential schemes. It is a pleasure to initiate a new business relationship with John and his team and we believe that, together, we will be able to extract the maximum mutual benefit for our shareholders. We very much hope that this will be the first step in a long term association between Minerva and Northacre."

John Hunter added: "The acquisition of the Odeon site is indeed a significant event, not least because of the high profile nature of this site, but also due to the new partnership with Minerva. The combined diverse skills of our two companies, gives us the best prospect of generating added value. We look forward to creating and enhancing the full potential of this exceptional opportunity with our new partners."