Hurstwood secures £100m debt package

THE Hurstwood Group is hoping to finally put its recent troubles behind it after securing a £100m debt restructuring package.

The group, led by chairman Stephen Ashworth, has had a torrid 12 months which saw the collapse of the group’s construction business last June followed by demise of Hurstwood Developments and Hurstwood Facilities Management amid tough times in the construction industry.

However, the group is now focusing on property investment and management and, after months of negotiations, has secured new finance and restructured the business.

The restructure includes a £100m debt facility which has been provided by five banks, including the Co-Operative Bank, Royal Bank of Scotland, Bank of Ireland, Alliance & Leicester and Yorkshire Bank.

Chairman Stephen Ashworth remains the majority shareholder of the group.
Andy Park, managing director of Hurstwood, said: “This agreement is a massive vote of confidence from the five banks which have collectively recognised that the management team at Hurstwood has the expertise and experience to manage the firm through an incredibly testing economic climate.

“While we certainly recognise that the market will continue to prove challenging over the coming months, critically, we now have a prudent and robust platform in place from which we can weather the storm.”

Andrew Burn, director, KPMG Restructuring in Manchester, added, “This is a great result for Hurstwood and all the banks involved. In handling this restructure, we were able to apply our wealth of experience of dealing with companies in situations of stress to find an innovative solution to reorganise the group.”