Oaktree, Greycoat and Homes England launch £250m JV
Oaktree Capital Management, Greycoat Real Estate and Homes England have joined forces to launch a £250 million master developer joint venture, designed to unlock and accelerate large-scale development sites across England.
The public-private partnership will target large or complex sites with the potential to deliver more than 1,000 homes each. With a focus on delivering high-quality environments for new communities, it will acquire sites to masterplan and develop, carrying out the necessary infrastructure works so that it can offer ready-to-develop sites to a diverse range of housebuilders.
“Our mandate is to speed up the delivery of new homes by removing the barriers that slow housebuilders down,” said Jon Kenny, director, Greycoat. “The bringing together of Oaktree’s institutional capital and Greycoat’s land development expertise made possible through Homes England’s support creates a powerful trinity of capability to unlock the complex challenges that stand in the way of delivering the large schemes necessary to deliver the Government’s housing ambitions.”
Using a long-term stewardship approach, the partnership will put placemaking at the heart of developments to ensure the homes that are built are right for their communities. This multi-tenure, master developer model can increase the pace of delivery while putting social and community values at the heart of successful new places.
The partnership with Homes England, the government’s housing and regeneration agency, will leverage the investors’ expertise, resources and knowledge and demonstrate the opportunity for new investment into an under-served part of the UK residential market.
“Bringing forward more large-scale developments is key to delivering the homes the country needs, and this requires ambitious master developers with clear visions and long-term commitment,” said Peter Denton, chief executive, Homes England. “Joining Oaktree’s capital with Greycoat’s development experience, this partnership has the funding, ambition and expertise needed. It will help to unlock thousands of homes, offering ready-to-build sites to housebuilders, whilst ensuring a cohesive approach, creating brilliant places that people want to live in.”
The partners are in the process of identifying potential sites and hope to announce the first project in the spring of 2025.