Solihull-headquartered Hayfield has agreed £85m of new equity and debt funding to enable the three-year-old housebuilder to deliver 500 homes per annum over the coming 36 months, which would result in a turnover of circa £180m.
A £50m senior debt site acquisition facility, together with rolling development funding, has been secured from OakNorth Bank plc, arranged by London-based Reality Wealth Ltd. In addition, a prominent Dubai-based family office private investor – with over 30 years’ property development experience in the UK and internationally – has led providing Hayfield with a new £35m rolling equity facility. The equity facility was jointly negotiated by Geneva-based MSM Investment Advisors SA and Reality Wealth Ltd.
Mark Booth, Managing Director of Hayfield said: “Our first three years of trading have been very successful. The industry at large knows who we are, wants to deal with us and we have recently become the UK’s Best Small Housebuilder, having made history by picking up the accolade at both the WhatHouse? and Housebuilder Awards.
“This new capital structure will enable Hayfield to quickly lose the newcomer badge and will allow us to realise our aspiration to become an established medium-sized housebuilder of note.”
Hayfield’s core strategy is to deliver higher quality homes with significantly better specifications than the rest of the market, while respecting environmental goals. This has led to an increase in appraised sales values, demonstrating customer preference for a quality product.
The company’s first three developments are now fully sold out; Hayfield Chase in Tiddington, Stratford-upon Avon, which comprises 32 homes and Tiddington Home Guard Club; Hayfield Views in Great Bourton, Oxfordshire, comprising 43 homes and the development of The Bourtons Community Hall; and Hayfield Meadow in Hallow, Worcestershire which has 65 homes, a wildflower meadow and children’s kick-about zone.
Its fastest selling development is currently the flagship Hayfields scheme in Southmoor, Oxfordshire, which comprises 74 luxury homes. In 2019, Hayfield Grange in the small market town of Southam in Warwickshire launched, comprising 51 homes. Hayfield Green in Stanton Harcourt, Oxfordshire also launched last year, which is bringing new life to a former disused RAF WWII airfield that is steeped in rich history. 66 homes are being developed at the 21-acre site, incorporating a mix of new build and refurbished properties.
In November 2019, Hayfield launched its first Bedfordshire development to the market. Hayfield Place consists of 105 luxury homes in the historic village of Silsoe.
Hayfield’s land requirements for 2020 have already been secured, together with 50 per cent of 2021’s land. 95 homes will be developed on a 12-acre site in the traditional Bedfordshire village of Clifton, which has won the title ‘Bedfordshire village of the year’ several times in recent years. To be called Hayfield Gate, the development will launch in mid-2020. Hayfield has also purchased land in Cambridgeshire, with a site in the idyllic village of Great Gransden set to deliver 40 luxury homes.
Mark Booth, Managing Director of Hayfield said: “For a company of the size and age of Hayfield to secure a £85m funding facility is representative of the great strides the team have achieved. A number of our developments have sold well ahead of the build programme, which speaks volumes for the quality of our homes. We are building an institutional quality platform that we are immensely proud of.
“We are now gearing up for a period of rapid expansion, not just in the counties that we are currently operating in – Warwickshire, Oxfordshire, Worcestershire and Bedfordshire. We will be bringing a number of new sites to the market in Cambridgeshire and Wiltshire, which offers all the attributes we look for when acquiring land. Over the next 12 months we anticipate delivering 210 luxury homes.”
