Pears refinance Urban Splash and form new JV partnership together
Urban Splash, working in partnership with The Pears Group, has agreed to refinance £135m of its remaining debt from the RBS, CoOp, HSBC and Blackstone and formed a new joint venture with Pears.
The new joint venture will initially fund the Urban Splash Braun portfolio, which consists of 35 properties including; Fort Dunlop in Birmingham, the Matchworks in Liverpool and Smithfield Buildings in Manchester.
Urban Splash Chairman Tom Bloxham MBE said: “This is part of our Urban Splash strategy to refinance our bank debt and form new long-term joint ventures with strong partners.
“It comes following the JV partnership we established last year with Places for People; one of the UK’s biggest landlords. This partnership with Pears, a large private property business with huge experience in the UK property market, is the next stage in our plan. We look forward to working with Jonathan Rose, Group MD of Pears, and his team on this and other projects.”
Jonathan Rose, Group MD of Pears Property added: “We have been delighted to assist Tom and the Urban Splash team in their refinance. We look forward to working together.”
Closing statement from Tom Bloxham MBE
“This is a watershed moment for Urban Splash.
“Since 2008 our company, like virtually every other in our sector, has been restricted by its debt burden. It is sad to see how few other northern property development companies have even survived. It has been a tough five years for the industry, but I’m proud that during that time we were able to deliver some great award winning projects.
“We have also been working hard since 2011 to refinance our debt and form new joint venture relationships with strong stable financial partners. This deal with Pears will allow Urban Splash to continue to do what we do best – develop and manage ground breaking and award winning regeneration schemes across the UK; something we’ve done for more than 20 years.”
