Wednesday 29 July 2015

Huge chunk of Wembley Park to go to US company in Quintain deal

Quintain Estates and Development are recommending a  £700m bid by US private finance company Lone Star to shareholders. Quintain own land around Wembley Stadium and Wembley Arena as well as the London Designer Outlet.

This is how Business Insider reported a dealing frenzy this morning:


Quintain has planning permission to build 5,500 homes in the area and 835 are currently under construction.

Angus Dodd of Lone Star in a statement said:
The proposed acquisition represents a unique opportunity for Lone Star to gain further exposure to resdiential and commercial assets in London
Wembley Park is one of the largest and most exciting urban renewal projects in Europe and complements our experience in this segmewnt of the market.
We intend to contribute significant additional financial resources to help Quintain in its next phase of growth to accelearte delivery at Wembley Park, building more homes more quickly and continuing the creation of a cohesive and exciting new community.
I wonder how many of the new homes will be social housing?

It will be interesting to see how Brent Council, Quintain's development partner, get on with the new landowners.

Reuters report HERE
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4 comments:

claremounties said...

Is this additional?
http://www.kilburntimes.co.uk/news/thousands_of_new_homes_to_be_built_in_alperton_as_part_the_mayor_of_london_s_housing_zone_scheme_1_4173983
What contributions are being made by developers to the infrastructure, in order to support these new developments? And what scrutiny is in place to ensure that they are not miss-representing their expected profit margins, to reduce the percentage of 'affordable' housing?

Kilburn Unemployed Workers Group said...

Martin wrote: " I wonder how many of the new homes will be social housing?"

There is 'social housing' and there is vulnerability. Nasty policies hit more and more people and central and local government policies impinge on society to make more and more people vulnerable, and the reputation of 'social landlords' toward their tenants becomes ever more intimidating.

And whether claimants of Jobseekers Allowance or Employment and Support Allowance Work Related Activity Group are in the Private Rented Sector or 'social housing' when they are hit by benefit sanctions, their Housing Benefit entitlement stops automatically. Having one's Housing Benefit entitlement stopped because of a benefit sanction necessitates a claim for Housing Benefit on the basis of a 'nil income'. And that, in Brent just about necessitates a visit to the 'Brent Civic Centre', which to access the outside of is to 'run a gauntlet' of intimidating property porn.

To not claim for Housing Benefit on the basis of a nil income in such circumstances increases the likelihood of an irredeemable build-up of rent-arrears leading to eviction and 'vacant possession'. Amid such circumstances, Brent housing officials are developing a greater and greater reputation for complete heartlessness.

I am reminded of a line from Euripides play 'The Trojan Women' adapted and translated by Jean-Paul Sartre at the time of Algeria's War of Indepence: "Those who give the order seldom see the mess it makes."

Anonymous said...

You need to move on from these quaint old-fashioned ideas about 'homes', Martin. As the Lone Star statement makes clear, these are 'residential assets'.
Still, it's nice to see Americans joining the Qataris, Kuwaitis, Singaporeans, Malaysians, Swiss, Hong Kongers and the rest who make up the vibrant multi-ethnic mix of people who now own big lumps of Brent and can dream from afar of its imagined delights as they watch property prices in the borough rise ever further out of reach of the people who actually live here.

Mike Hine

Nan. said...

It appears that Lone Star (a private equity and real estate investment firm) specialises in asset acquisitions, company sponsorships, corporate acquisitions, distressed debt, refinancing and turnarounds.

If my googling is correct, Lone Star was accused of buying the Korea Exchange Bank for an artificially high price and of tax evasion. Lone Star then made an altruistic donation of $100m before the investigation was completed. In fairness to Lone Star the two could be entirely unrelated. .

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/8f88c930-d00a-11da-80fb-0000779e2340.html#axzz3hUzcw6ej