by Erica Billingham
Privately owned leisure specialist THI has joined forces with Lend Lease Corporation, developer of the massive Bluewater scheme in Dartford, in a deal that could pave the way for THI to float on the stock market.
Lend Lease, one of Australia’s biggest property groups, this week bought a 25% stake in THI for £3m following almost a year of talks between the two companies. The new shareholder will also inject £25m of new working capital into THI .
THI chief executive Carl Lewis said that the new money will allow the company, which claims to have pioneered the concept of family leisure parks, to retain up to £100m of its developments as investments. He plans to expand THI and wants to be in a position to gain a Stock Exchange listing in the future.
Lewis said: “Our aim is to build up a company with an asset base. We would like to be able to float in four to five years’ time.”
Lend Lease Europe’s chief executive, Peter Walicknowski, said that the deal was part of the Australian group’s aim to expand its UK leisure and retail interests. So far, it owns 50% of retail park developer Chelverton Properties.
Lend Lease has effectively replaced contracting and property group Higgs & Hill as a shareholder in THI – the leisure specialist bought back the 25% stake from the contractor before striking the deal with Lend Lease. Higgs & Hill, which last month announced the sale of its construction arm to a Dutch contractor, will continue to work as a contractor for THI.
THI is commited to a £200m development programme to build 92,900m2 (1m sq ft) of leisure parks over the next three years. This includes schemes at Bristol, Bexleyheath, Luton, Leeds and Sheffield which typically range in size from 14,864m2 to 37,160m2 (160,000 sq ft to 400,000 sq ft). The Lend Lease deal will allow the company to look at larger projects.
