The £50m deal is a reflection of continued Asian interest in the London property market
A Singaporean investor is to buy a 20pc stake in house builder Galliard in a deal that highlights continued Asian interest in London’s booming property market.
Oxley Holdings is due to invest £50m into Galliard Group, one of the capital’s most prolific residential property developers.
The deal, expected to be announced on the Singaporean stock market overnight, values Galliard at £250m.
The company, which trades under Galliard Homes, is the developer behind the Canary Wharf tower block which recently sold out in less than five hours.
News of the rapid sale of the 230 apartments in Maine Tower – which has yet to be built – was first reported by The Telegraph at the weekend.
Stephen Conway, the founder of Galliard, will continue as chairman and chief executive, with Oxley’s chairman, Ching Chiat Kwong, and deputy chief executive, Low See Ching, expected to join the Galliard board as non-executive directors.
Oxley, which is in the process of developing the 3,400-apartment Royal Wharf site in east London, operates across South East Asia as well as the UK and Ireland, and has been listed on the Singaporean exchange since 2010.
Galliard is London’s second largest house builder, with nearly 6,000 residential units under construction, and sites in planning with a completed value of some £2bn.
Mr Conway confirmed the deal, telling The Telegraph: “We believe this milestone transaction by Oxley will create business opportunities for both Galliard and Oxley.”
“The synergies are obvious. Galliard is a London-centric developer that has a strong selling profile in Singapore. Oxley is a dynamic Singapore-based property developer with a rapidly growing London presence.”
Galliard was responsible for developing Whitehall’s Great Scotland Yard into a £10,000-a-night hotel and the construction of Baltimore Tower in Canary Wharf.
Earlier this year it recruited industry heavyweight Paul Huberman, formerly of Grantchester Holdings and Asda Property Holdings, to its board to “advise on corporate growth” as part of the company’s expansion plans.