Housebuilder Avant lays foundations for £500m auction
The company’s hedge fund owners are to start hunting for a buyer for the top-20 housebuilder, Sky News learns.
Friday 15 January 2021 12:49, UK
The owners of Avant Homes Group, one of Britain’s biggest private housebuilders, are preparing to kick off a long-delayed auction of the company that could fetch more than £500m.
Sky News has learnt that Avant's advisers at Moelis, the investment bank, will begin sounding out bidders in the coming weeks.
The sale will get under way weeks after Avant announced its chief executive, Colin Lewis, would step down in April.
His successor, Mark Mitchell, has worked at the company for 20 years, including the last two as its chief operating officer.
City sources said Avant was expected to be marketed to larger housebuilders as well as potential private equity bidders.
The company is owned by Alchemy, Avenue Capital and Angelo Gordon, a syndicate of hedge funds which took control in 2014.
Operating in Scotland, the northeast of England, Yorkshire and the Midlands, Avant is a top-20 UK housebuilder.
Previously known as Gladedale, the business ran into difficulty after an acquisition spree ahead of the 2008 financial crisis.
A spokesperson for the company said: "As you'd expect given the quality of our portfolio, high growth profile and strong trading performance, we regularly review our strategic options and financing arrangements.
"We remain focused on executing against our growth plan, continuing to expand our business and geographic presence, while ensuring the health and wellbeing of our staff, customers and communities we serve.
"Management are pleased with the resilience the group showed through last year with a strong recovery in trading momentum continuing into 2021."
The government has set a target of 300,000 new homes being built annually, although activity levels last year were far below that level, partly as a result of being hampered by the coronavirus pandemic.