Helping a Dutch company acquire an equity stake in a private company that owns land in Kent

Our client is a Dutch company which offers self-build and shell home products and services. We helped them to acquire a 50% equity stake in a private limited company which owns a large piece of land in Kent. The company had previously been granted planning permission to build a substantial number of residential units on the land, and so had significant value.

We undertook a full due diligence review of the company and its property interests and affairs. We negotiated the share purchase agreement and relevant ancillary documents. We also assisted our client with the secured borrowing it undertook in order to finance the transaction. The property aspects of the transaction were handled by our commercial property team.

In parallel to the share purchase transaction, we also advised the client on a joint venture shareholders’ agreement and new set of articles of association for the land-owning company. There was a significant amount of negotiation on the terms of these documents, mainly due to the nature of the arrangement (a 50/50 joint venture) and the fact that both individual and corporate shareholders held stakes in the company.

The transaction successfully completed and our client is now working with the other joint venture parties in order to develop the land.