London Square
Graphite established London Square to develop residential housing within Greater London at a point in the cycle, where more established housebuilders were unable to fund new developments as a result of the financial crisis. London Square acquired land, obtained planning permission for development, built and sold the housing units. Graphite appointed a highly experienced CEO with an extensive and successful track record of residential housebuilding in London. The company benefited from having no legacy developments, so it was well placed to exploit the unique opportunities available in London at the time.
Graphite attracted a high-quality, market-leading operational team. Under our ownership, the company acquired over ten sites across London in attractive locations with good transport links and strong demand for new houses and apartments priced in the £0.2 million to £4.0 million range.
KEY BUSINESS ACHIEVEMENTS
Attracted a high-quality, market-leading management team with extensive experience of developing residential housing in London
Completed and sold three developments consisting of 116 units and generating £84 million of cash proceeds
Commenced developments on a further six sites with over 230 units, expected to generate over £250 million of sales proceeds
Created a land bank of future developments with over 850 units expected to generate over £650 million of sales proceeds
Secured a revolving equity debt facility to enhance returns
£129m
Exit Value
BUSINESS EXIT
In 2014 London Square was sold to Ares Management, generating a money multiple of 2.0 times cost.