The William Pears Group was formed in 1952 by Bernard Pears and his son Clive, and is still 100% family owned and managed. The current directors took over the management of the Group in 1984 following the death of Clive Pears. The Group's original activity was commercial property development, but it expanded into property investment in the mid-1960s. The Group's policy has always been long term growth with conservative borrowings. Accordingly, from the early years the Group has participated in joint ventures.

Talisman Global Asset Management was incorporated in 1998 to manage the Group's financial investments including global equity, credit and hedge funds. Please refer to www.talismanglobal.co.uk.

More recently the Group has expanded its involvement in joint ventures and now works with over 30 joint venture partners.