Professionals: Lawyers advise care group on £26m refinancing; Law firm’s specialist property team sees rise in demand; and more

LAW firm hlw Keeble Hawson, which has offices in Sheffield, Leeds and Doncaster, has acted for Hill Care Group which has secured funding from Barclays to refinance for growth with a £26m term loan.

Established in 2001 and headquartered in Chesterfield, the business provides care to over 1000 residents.  Operating homes across the North of England, Hill Care will now move ahead with plans to acquire and build new facilities.

Wendy Waddicor, managing director of Hill Care, said: “We are very excited to be expanding our brand of exceptional, holistic care, catering to all our residents’ needs.

“Our priority is improving the quality of life for those who choose to reside with us, maintaining their privacy, dignity and ability to manage their own lives. Through new builds and acquisitions, we will be able to support more families with the care of their loved ones.”

The funding deal with Barclays is the largest the bank has agreed with any care operator in the North of England this year.

hlw Keeble Hawson advised on the various facility agreements, dealt with the required security and investigated the title to the various properties owned by the Hill Care Group.

Mitchells Chartered Accountants and Business Advisers acted for Hill Care since its incorporation in 2001. As part of the deal with Barclays, it provided assistance in preparing the financial modelling and forecasting on behalf of Hill Care to ensure the refinancing went smoothly.

Nick Goulding, corporate partner at hlw Keeble Hawson, said: “This was an important transaction for the Hill Care Group and enables them to push on with their plans for further growth and success. It was a complex matter due to the number of care homes and parties involved and needed to be completed within a tight timescale. Everyone worked very hard and with a good sense of collaboration in order to deliver the project on time.”

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THE specialist ‘plot sales team’ in the property department at law firm Ward Hadaway has seen demand for its work rise by over 30% in the past year.

The team, which acts for a number of the UK’s leading housebuilders, successfully completed the sale of over 2,800 new homes in the 12 months to the end of April 2016 at new development sites across the North, from the Scottish borders down to the Midlands and stretching across to North Wales.  This represents over 2% of all new homes built during the period in England.

Ward Hadaway’s 33-strong plot sales team is one of the largest in the North of England with team members based at all three of the firm’s offices in Newcastle, Leeds and Manchester.

As well as plot sales work (the sale of newly completed homes for housebuilder clients), the specialist team also deals with part exchange transactions.

The team successfully completed over 630 part-exchange acquisitions and onward sales for housebuilder clients over the year to the end of April 2016.

Lesley Fairclough, partner and head of development at Ward Hadaway, said: “We were extremely busy in the year to April 2015 but this past year has outstripped that and demonstrates the importance of the plot sales team to thousands of different transactions right across the UK housing market.”

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LEEDS law firm Stone King is helping Wadworth expand into London as part of the Wiltshire brewery’s ambitious growth strategy.         

Stone King’s commercial team is advising Wadworth on all licensed property deals including a lease assignment for the Kings Arms in Fulham, which the brewery has just acquired from Greene King.

The new-look Kings Arms, which has undergone a £300,000 refurbishment, is Wadworth’s first pub in London and marks the start of its strategic expansion into the capital and Home Counties.

As well as dealing with the disposal and acquisition of all licensed freehold and leasehold properties in the brewery estate, Stone King also advises Wadworth on associated intellectual property and employment-related issues.

Sarah Lane, who heads Stone King’s business property team, said: “We are delighted to represent Wadworth across its property portfolios at this exciting time in the brewery’s history.”