Good morning.
Here is your AM bulletin with the latest news and views from EG, along with a handful of the more interesting headlines from the national press.
US hedge fund GoldenTree is looking to check out of Travelodge after meeting with investment banks to line up a £1.2bn sale of the business.
Knight Frank’s profits have fallen from is “exceptional” 2022 results, but revenues have nudged up to a new record.
Britain looks set to avoid a recession this year, according to new forecasts by KPMG and the CBI. But only just.
Kajima has sealed a deal to buy an office block on London’s Soho Square for just over £45m, below the £50m Federated Hermes was asking in March.
And Rightacres has won planning for the tallest tower in Wales – a 35-storey resi block next to Cardiff Central station.
Citra Living has paid £35.7m for a 124-home portion of Land Charter Group’s 330-home regeneration of the Ford HQ in Warley, Essex.
And while General Projects’ Jacob Loftus is a huge fan of refurb instead of rebuilding, even he says that for “a significant number of buildings” that simply won’t be possible.
A Home REIT shareholder, RM Funds, has called for its chair, Lynne Fennah, to quit. But this is the same RM Funds that lost the race to become the REIT’s new investment manager.
And Tees Valley mayor Ben Houchen – currently under investigation over his dealings with property developers at the 4,500 acre Teesworks regeneration – has been given a peerage in Boris Johnson’s resignation honours. Former levelling up secretary Simon Clarke was handed a knighthood in the same list, which rewarded 40 of Johnson’s key allies.
Cushman & Wakefield has added Colliers’ Aric Asbridge to its logistics and industrial team.
And P-Three’s John Strachan and former London mayoral hopeful Samuel Kasumu feature in the the latest EG Like Sunday Morning.
But alas, Kasumu has failed to make the shortlist to become the Conservative candidate for London’s mayor. As did supposed frontrunner, London minister Paul Scully. The shortlist now comprises former Downing Street adviser Daniel Korski, London Assembly member Susan Hall and Mozammel Hossain KC, who had not even announced he was running.
Avant Homes has seen customer satisfaction plunge since former Persimmon boss Jeff Fairburn took control in 2021.
And finally, meet the housebuilder’s new(t) best friend – Freya the English spaniel. She has been trained to detect that bane of development sites – the great crested newt – allowing them to be found and relocated up to five times faster than human experts.
