L&Q has completed the acquisition of Gallagher Estates, one of the largest strategic land companies in the UK, for an enterprise value of around £505m.
The deal means the housing association will have access to 42,500 plots of land owned by the Midlands-based housebuilder. L&Q expects the acquisition to become immediately accretive to L&Q’s earnings.
L&Q is one of the most active builders in the UK. It merged with East Thames Housing Association late last year, alongside a £2.6bn refinancing package a target of building 100,000 homes.
Gallagher Estates, based in Warwick, owns land in the South and south Midlands, taking sites though the planning process before delivering it to housebuilders. It will become a subsidiary of L&Q, and will continue to be run by the current management team as a stand-alone entity.
The acquisition does not include Tony Gallagher’s commercial and retail property development and investment activities.
David Montague, chief executive of L&Q, said: “Through this deal L&Q will unlock land for development across a wider range of tenures, and speed up the delivery of new homes through our ability to invest over the long term.”
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