Global law firm Ashurst is advising Rothschild & Co on the £1.2 billion acquisition of St. Modwen Properties plc ("St. Modwen") by Brighton Bidco Limited, a newly formed company indirectly owned by investment funds advised by affiliates of the Blackstone Group Inc. ("Blackstone") announced today.
St. Modwen is a UK property developer that operates across operates across three dedicated business units: St. Modwen Homes, St. Modwen Logistics, and Strategic Land & Regeneration. St. Modwen Logistics designs, builds, owns and manages high-quality industrial & logistics assets in the UK and St. Modwen Homes is the award-winning housebuilding business with 1,500 new homes targeted by 2023.
Blackstone is a global leader in real estate investing with $196 billion of investor capital under management dedicated to real estate. Blackstone's pan-European last mile logistics real estate platform, Mileway, is a leading urban logistics real estate business in Europe and the U.K. St. Modwen's logistics segment - including its assets and developable land bank - would be a complementary addition to Mileway's existing portfolio and development activities and would be enhanced by being part of Mileway's broader pan-European platform.
In the U.K. residential sector, Blackstone's Sage Housing platform is a registered provider of affordable housing, working with the largest homebuilders to deliver new housing for shared ownership and low-cost rental homes. Over the past three years, Sage Housing has delivered over 3,000 homes, with a pipeline of more than 14,000 under contract which will complement St. Mowden's residential property business.
Rothschild & Co is acting as financial adviser to Brighton Bidco Limited in relation to the offer.
The Ashurst team is being led by UK head of corporate Karen Davies, assisted by associates Colin Bugler and Alexandra Brogan.
