■ New partnership in Greenwich
■ £500m of financing
■ Roughly £150m of cash receipts
Quintain's shares rose 15 per cent on Monday as traders digested the implications of a massive financing deal with Hong Kong billionaire Henry Cheng Kar-Shun, which should enable the developer to make much more progress with its vast sites at Greenwich and Wembley.
The Greenwich site used to be owned partly by Quintain alone ('Peninsula Quays') and partly by a 50:50 joint venture between the company and Australian regeneration specialist Lend Lease ('Greenwich Peninsula Regeneration' or GPRL). Mr Cheng's investment vehicle, Knight Dragon, is buying out Lend Lease's holding in GPRL, a further 10 per cent stake in GPRL from Quintain and a 60 per cent share in Peninsula Quays. The upshot is that Quintain will own 40 per cent of the whole site, with Knight Dragon controlling the rest.
Quintain will net £78.8m from these land sales. It will also receive an estimated £70m or so over the next six years from other sources, including fees for managing the regeneration process. These funds will be used to pay off debt and also to accelerate the company's plans at Wembley.
Just as importantly, Knight Dragon has pledged a further £300m of cash for the redevelopment of Greenwich at an interest rate of 5 per cent above Libor. Once geared up, this will give the joint venture about £500m of capital, says new chief executive Maxwell James.
