Foxtons' Banks Debt Exit

[Pent Up]

From today's paper version of the torygraph. Can't find a the article online.

foxtons two banking lenders are looking to offload up to £120m of debt in the estate agent just nine months after agreeing to restructure the business with it's private equity owner. Banks merrill lynch and japans mizuho bank, who wrote £260m of their original loan at the start of the year, are considering dumping their debt in the secondary Market.

...

although they would be selling the debt at a loss it would curtail their exposure to the company and de-risk their balance sheet.

Looks like these banks consider more losses in UK property to be a bigger enough risk to cut their losses and run.

[Timm]

From today's paper version of the torygraph. Can't find a the article online.

foxtons two banking lenders are looking to offload up to £120m of debt in the estate agent just nine months after agreeing to restructure the business with it's private equity owner. Banks merrill lynch and japans mizuho bank, who wrote £260m of their original loan at the start of the year, are considering dumping their debt in the secondary Market.

...

although they would be selling the debt at a loss it would curtail their exposure to the company and de-risk their balance sheet.

Looks like these banks consider more losses in UK property to be a bigger enough risk to cut their losses and run.

Now here is a funny thing.

I was speaking to a couple of ex protographers (Foxtons property photographers) the other day, and they said that not only did Jon Hunt sell up out of Foxtons at the peak of the market, but he went back to work as a consultant in early 2009, just as the market was about to pick up.

Whether the news that he is setting up a new development company means that he is no longer providing advice to his old firm, I have no idea. But if you want to know what is about to happen in UK property, you could do much worse than look at what Mr Hunt is doing.

[Misanthrope]

Whether the news that he is setting up a new development company means that he is no longer providing advice to his old firm, I have no idea. But if you want to know what is about to happen in UK property, you could do much worse than look at what Mr Hunt is doing.

Indeed. He's moving into affordable Housing now, apparently. Now there's a thing!

[Pauly_Boy]

Indeed. He's moving into affordable Housing now, apparently. Now there's a thing!

Cardboard box manufacturing?

[Timm]

Indeed. He's moving into affordable Housing now, apparently. Now there's a thing!

Whatever it is he knows, I don't.

Unless he is going into partnership with local planning authorities to develop unserviced sites of course.

There is a fortune to be made there, but it wouldn't be allowed, would it?

[darwin]

I posted a topic about this the other day: http://www.housepricecrash.co.uk/forum/index.php?showtopic=151143&view=findpost&p=2711803

I can't figure what they're really talking about - are they talking about affordable housing for rent, or for sale ?

Jon Hunt reckons he's putting in £200m of his own money. Okaaay...

From the Evening Standard, 15.09.10 - What Foxtons founder Jon Hunt did next... And it's all about affordable housing.

Jon Hunt, the man who founded Foxtons and sold it at the very peak to a bunch of mug punters in the City has a brand new venture, Bacchus Partners.

But now he's making a more high-profile, public comeback. Step forward Bacchus Partners, a property investment vehicle aimed at snapping up those derelict buildings and properties that seemingly litter every city, town and major thoroughfare in Britain.

The clever bit is that Hunt is relying on others to do the spadework for him. He is looking to recruit as “partners” local property experts who will identify the rundown sites. In return for an advance on profits to tide them over and a chunk of equity, they will work full-time for Bacchus, bringing their specialist knowledge to the firm.

His plan is to turn the properties they target into mixed-use — retail and residential — developments, with the emphasis very much on affordable housing. He's relying on the fact that just as there are broken sites, so there are hungry developers who, for whatever reason, can't get the cash they seek.

“We're not looking at central London prime, but on the fringes. We will join up with a housing association and have affordable units upstairs and shops on the ground floor.”

As well as being dependent upon people locating the right sites, they're also putting their faith in the social housing sector. They say they're not bothered by fears public spending cuts will crush social housing contracts (already we've seen Connaught, a leading player in this area, hit the buffers).

“There is huge demand for affordable housing,” says Hunt. “There are at least four million on the waiting list for cheap housing. The Local Government Association made a study in 2008 which found that 1.6 million households required affordable housing. That's four million individuals and it must be up, nearer five million, by now.”