Pocket Living
Our Approach
- We build long-term relationships, supporting clients from early stages
- Our deep knowledge of the affordable housing market underpinned the compelling investment case
- Engagement with international strategic investor ensured capital for long-term growth
We employed these capabilities when we advised Pocket Living on its initial sale of a 50% stake to Related Companies, a large US developer of affordable housing. The transaction was the first of its kind, where a US real estate firm invested in the UK’s affordable housing market.
Sector
The Built Environment
Public or Private: Private
Client Position: Seller
- Company Profile
- Transaction Background
- What We Did
- Outcome
Founded in 2005, Pocket Living is a leading developer of affordable homes, designed to be starter homes for ‘city makers’, and is supported by the Greater London Authority.
Opus has built a long-term relationship with the management and shareholders of Pocket, who we have advised previously on securing equity finance from Greater London Enterprise Group and on Pocket’s co-venture funding arrangements with CarVal Investors.
- Accelerating growth at Pocket provided the opportunity to link up with a larger well capitalised partner to achieve medium term goals consistent with Pocket’s core social objectives
- Pocket and Related were well known to each other through Related’s joint venture with Argent, a key developer at the King’s Cross renewal project
- Working with the Pocket team, we helped evolve a participation and progressive ownership structure to allow a transaction to proceed with Related
- The team developed Pocket’s medium term business plans to provide a robust underpinning to the future performance targets set by the transactions
- Successful progressive transfer of ownership to Related, a much larger US equivalent
- The transaction has enabled Pocket to accelerate its development programme and cement its position as a leading independent provider of affordable housing for key workers