Joe Lewis, the billionaire who used to own 25% of Glasgow Rangers Football Club, has bought a stake in a European property fund managed by part of the Kenmore property empire in a sign that bargain hunters see opportunities in the property market.

The Kenmore European Industrial Fund said a company owned by a Lewis family trust had bought 10.5 million shares. This gave it control of 7.5% of the fund, which owns properties across Europe.

The fund is one of eight raised by the Edinburgh-based Kenmore empire developed by John Kennedy, parts of which went into administration two weeks ago.

Listed with a value of £140 million in 2006, the fund is not subject to any insolvency proceedings. Its management company, Kenmore Financial Services, is not in any form of insolvency.

The fund confirmed it is in talks with Lewis and his advisors about one of the board’s options for its management.

Lewis is reported to be seeking to back a management buyout of the asset management business which runs the fund, and of the fund itself.

However, he may face competition from a firm which has been formed to hunt for bargains in the property market – which was devastated by the fallout from the credit crunch. On Wednesday, Hansteen confirmed it had acquired a 12% stake in the fund for £6.8m. Hansteen said it was in very preliminary talks regarding a possible £57m offer for the fund.

On Hansteen’s website, the company says it “seeks to profit from opportunistic commercial property acquisitions in the UK as value returns”.

Experts from Grant Thornton were recently appointed to run 21 companies built by Kennedy with massive support from Bank of Scotland’s departed corporate lending chief Peter Cummings.

The Kenmore European Industrial Fund issued a statement “to remind shareholders that KEIF is a separate legal entity”.

In January 1997, tax exile Lewis invested £40m to buy a 25% stake in Rangers. He now owns Tottenham Hotspur.

The Kenmore European Industrial Fund said the indirect parent of Kenmore Financial Services, KIL, is in receivership. KIL is a subsidiary of Kenmore Property Group.