London Square

In 2010 Graphite Capital committed £50 million of equity to support the development of London Square, a new London-focused house builder.

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.

London Square

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.