Eastry – Multi-Party Transaction & Strategic Realignment

Project:

Eastry, Kent

Assets:

94 houses

Tenure:

S106/Affordable & Private

GVD:

£30,582,000

Structure:

Land Sale / Forward Sale / Forward Funding

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Overview

Whitedrake was engaged for a second time by an SME developer for their second-ever partnership deal for the highly intricate Eastry project. This project included a land acquisition, a forward sale and forward funding involving four separate parties and their respective legal teams. A critical hurdle was the involvement of the Secretary of State for Health (SoSH), as the site was a former hospital, necessitating stringent compliance on multiple fronts. Our role was to design and execute a structured plan to navigate this complexity, ensure our client was investment-ready, secure a major institutional investor for both forward funding and purchase, and, crucially, manage a highly frustrated landowner to bring the deal to fruition.

Challenges

Navigating Bureaucratic Hurdles: Extensive involvement of the SoSH required complex compliance, creating significant delays and making alignment between all parties extremely difficult.

Disgruntled Landowner: The landowner was severely frustrated due to months of unfulfilled promises and stalled exchanges, creating a tense starting point for our engagement.

Multi-Party Alignment: Coordinating four distinct parties and their legal teams, each with differing pressure points, timelines and objectives, proved challenging in achieving both emotional and legal consensus.

Client Readiness & Investor Search: Our SME client needed preparation to be investment-ready for a sophisticated proposition, while we simultaneously had to identify and secure a large institutional investor willing to commit to both forward funding and purchasing the completed development.

Risk of Deal Collapse: The prolonged stagnation and complexity had put the entire transaction at risk of being withdrawn by the landowner.

Our Approach

Our strategy focused on proactive relationship building, transparent communication, and comprehensive transaction management:

Building Landowner Trust: Recognising the landowner’s deep frustration, we immediately prioritised building trust. We were completely transparent about our process, who we engaged, and openly shared all relevant information, quickly resetting expectations and fostering a collaborative environment.
Strategic Alignment: We successfully brought the landowner on board to proactively address the SoSH’s concerns, transforming a major obstacle into a shared objective.
Investment Readiness & Partner Identification: We prepared our client for the institutional investment proposition and leveraged our network to identify and engage a large institutional investor whose criteria matched the unique forward funding and purchase structure.
Complex Transaction Structuring: We orchestrated the land acquisition, forward sale, and forward funding components, including a critical Deed of Variation (DOV) on the planning.
Proactive Management: We managed the complex legal and emotional alignment of all parties over several months, ensuring continuous progress and preventing further deal erosion.

Outcome

Whitedrake successfully delivered a multi-faceted and critically important transaction, achieving outstanding results for all involved:

Successful Deal Conclusion: We successfully aligned all parties (initially emotionally, then legally), leading to the exchange of contracts and completion of the land acquisition, much to the landowner’s sincere appreciation. The deal, which was in jeopardy, was definitively secured.
Fully Funded Project: Our client not only concluded the challenging land acquisition but also secured a fully funded project with a prominent institutional investor who was confident enough to release a public press statement about the partnership.
Exceptional Stakeholder Satisfaction: Beyond our client and the buyer, we uniquely received a positive review from the landowner, who, impressed by our transparent and effective approach, subsequently sought projects to instruct us.

Conclusion

The Eastry Project vividly showcases Whitedrake’s ability to navigate the most complex real estate transactions. Our expertise in building trust with challenging stakeholders, strategically aligning diverse parties, and structuring sophisticated forward funding deals proved invaluable. This case study underscores our commitment to not only deliver successful project conclusions but also to unlock significant value and forge enduring relationships, even under immense pressure.

Note: As part of Whitedrake's commitment to client discretion, specific client names, purchaser details, and project addresses are available upon direct application.