Singapore's Oxley buys 20% stake in London homebuilder Galliard for £50m

Singapore-based Oxley Holdings is investing £50m (€71m, $78m) into Galliard Group to acquire a 20% stake in the London property developer.

Oxley said it agreed to acquire a 20% stake in the enlarged capital of Galliard, which is currently London's largest privately owned residential developer and the second largest house builder in the UK capital. The deal values the homebuilder at £250m.

The builder has more than £1.6bn worth of forward sales, with about 6,000 residential units under construction. It also has a number of sites in planning with a completed value of £2bn.

Galliard is the developer behind the Canary Wharf's Maine Tower, where more than 200 apartments were sold in less than five hours. The apartments will be completed in 2019.

Oxley is currently developing the 3,400-apartment Royal Wharf site in east London. In addition, it has operations across South East Asia.

As part of the deal, Oxley chairman and CEO Ching Chiat Kwong, and Deputy CEO Low See Ching, will join the Galliard board as non-executive directors. Stephen Conway, who is the founder of Galliard, will continue as chairman and CEO of the company.

Asian investors consider London properties as safe-haven assets, and they continue to show strong interest in the booming real estate market in the capital city.

"Galliard has a well proven track record and this acquisition signals our confidence in the UK property market and London in particular," said Ching.

"We foresee significant collaboration with Galliard's vertically integrated business model with that of Oxley. We look forward to leveraging this partnership in a variety of ways and hopefully complement our future developments in London."

Galliard's Conway noted that the transaction 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," he said.

Oxley is expected to capitalise and leverage on Galliard Group's construction and property development expertise and operating network and contacts in the UK.

In addition, the deal would give Oxley greater capacity and flexibility to market its London properties, manage its construction works, and provide buyers with added after-sales service.