This Week's London Deal Sheet
The Deal Sheet is a weekly compilation of Greater London and beyond's biggest leases, sales, financing deals, construction updates and personnel moves. Have news you’d like to submit? Email mark.faithfull@bisnow.com.
Oaktree Capital Management-backed specialist lender Silbury Finance has upsized and extended a £68M facility to developer Avanton, with a new £33M commitment to fund the development of an additional 30 homes at Avanton’s Old Kent Road redevelopment.
The former Carpetright warehouse will be converted to 292 mixed-tenure homes over two blocks. Those additional homes, for which planning has been secured, are a requirement for the inclusion of a second staircase. The revised scheme, which has a gross development value of circa £160M, is due to complete in 2027, with 40% of the homes already presold.
Silbury has funded nearly £1.5B of gross development value in schemes across the UK, focused on the residential for-sale, build-to-rent, purpose-built student accommodation and retirement living sectors. It is targeting circa £500M of new lending this year, the company said.
“Having focused on consolidating our loan book last year, 2025 sees us in high deployment mode — our current deal pipeline is at its highest since 2023, reflecting our conviction that the economic backdrop will continue to improve throughout the year,” Silbury Finance CEO Gavin Eustace said in a statement.
DEALS
Luxury care home provider North Bay has sold a portfolio of six homes across the north of England for £100M. Two of the homes were commissioned in the summer of 2024, with two due to complete in Q2 2025 and the remainder in Q1 2026.
North Bay, which trades as both St Marys and Highgate Care, will continue to operate the homes following the sale. Knight Frank advised the sell side.
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Miller Homes has completed its acquisition of St Modwen after approval from the Competition and Markets Authority. Edinburgh-based Miller Homes has acquired 19 live sites totalling 3,500 plots for new homes, along with five development sites.
The acquisition gives it a presence in the south-west of England for the first time, and Miller will continue to operate the brand under the St Modwen name. The acquisition is part of Miller’s medium-term plan to build 6,000 homes a year, the company said.
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Whitbread has acquired the freehold of Churchill House, located at 35 Red Lion Square, WC1, from the Royal College of Anaesthetists, with plans to convert it into a Premier Inn Hub hotel.
The eight-story office building spans 47,500 SF and was acquired for circa £25M. It will join a growing portfolio of office-to-hotel conversions in urban locations being developed by Whitbread.
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Investec Bank's equity platform Investec Realis, which it launched last year, has acquired the 47K SF Citygate office in central Manchester. XLB will be responsible for asset managing the property, alongside sourcing future acquisition opportunities.
The building underwent refurbishment in 2016 and is circa 90% occupied, predominantly by the secretary of state and Barclays.
This transaction is Realis’ second acquisition, both of which have been regional offices, reflecting “one of its high conviction areas,” along with industrial and logistics development and select living assets, the company said.
FINANCE
Specialist real estate finance provider Maslow Capital has completed an £18M development finance facility to support Citu for residential schemes across Yorkshire.
The funding will facilitate the completion of an 87-unit residential development, District Lofts, in the Climate Innovation District overlooking the River Aire in Leeds’ South Bank.
The scheme will comprise a mix of one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments, including seven affordable units. It is part of a 955-home master plan that will deliver a net-zero residential district plus a school and care home.
Construction of District Lofts is underway, with completion anticipated in summer 2025.
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The Church of England Pensions Board has agreed to a £50M revolving credit facility with NatWest to help grow its retirement housing portfolio.
The pensions board offers retirement services to those who serve or work for the Church of England, principally through managing pension schemes for 43,000 people across 700 church organisations and providing retirement housing for retired clergy.
The new £50M facility will allow the Pensions Board to continue to purchase retirement properties to meet increasing numbers of retiring clergy households.
LEASING
Life Science REIT has let 5,100 SF of fully fitted space at Rolling Stock Yard to a precision neuroscience company that uses AI to detect dementia.
CFDX has signed an eight-year lease with a break after four years for the first floor and is paying a rent of £110 per SF, taking occupancy at Rolling Stock Yard in Kings Cross to 100%.
Since acquisition, Life Science REIT has delivered two fully fitted laboratory options at Rolling Stock Yard, with the other floor let to Beacon Therapeutics, a Syncona-backed company, in 2023.
PEOPLE
Knight Frank has promoted Craig Shute to proprietary partner, and he will join the group executive board effective 1 April.
Shute was recently announced as CEO of Asia Pacific, having joined Knight Frank in 2023 to lead its greater China business following a 25-year international real estate career.
