Withers advises Silbury Finance on £66m debt financing of Headley Court redevelopment

International law firm Withers has represented Silbury Finance on a £66.5m facility to a joint venture development vehicle established to acquire and redevelop Headley Court in Surrey. 

The joint venture structure has been established by Audley Group and Senior Living Investment Partners, which is itself a partnership between Pensions Insurance Corporation and Octopus Real Estate. 

The 53 month facility will fund the acquisition and development of Headley Court, a Grade II listed property on 23 acres. The site will be used to create 12 two bedroom apartments in the historic building and to construct an additional 100 new houses and apartments. Construction is expected to be completed by 2027.

Jon Bond, partner in Withers' debt financing team, comments: "We're delighted to support Silbury on another development financing supporting the fast growing retirement living sector, which remains attractive to investors.  Silbury have a proven and deep track record lending to institutional partners in this space, and we are delighted that this transaction took them over the important milestone of having lent £0.75bn in under three years."

Gavin Eustace, CEO of Silbury Finance, adds: "This was an important deal for us and we would like to thank the whole Withers team for advising on all aspects of the transaction; their considerable expertise with this asset class was invaluable in bringing this project to fruition. We look forward to working alongside them in 2024 as we look to accelerate our deployment of capital into this and the wider real estate sector."

Jon headed the Withers team, working with senior associate Isobel Young-Herries. Jon and Isobel joined Withers in August 2023.