£520 sale of Gallagher Estates

We have advised Tony Gallagher on the sale of Gallagher Estates, the largest strategic residential land businesses in the UK.

The business was bought by London & Quadrant Housing Trust (L&Q) for a value of £520m. The sale does not include Tony Gallagher’s retail and commercial property investment and development businesses.

Gallagher Estates is based in Warwick and promotes sites through the planning process, from pre-allocation stage to securing implementable planning consents, before delivering serviced land to the marketplace. The business controls plots to deliver 42,000 new homes mainly in the South and South Midlands.

Gallagher Estates will become a wholly owned subsidiary of L&Q, and will continue to be run by the current management team as a stand-alone entity. L&Q, who were advised by Clifford Chance, is one of the UK’s leading Housing Associations and one of London’s largest residential developers. This acquisition strengthens L&Q’s position and places it as one of the leading enablers of new homes across the UK.

Our London Corporate team advised on the sale, led by Partner Nick Smith and supported by Zum Mohammed and Michael Byrne.

Tony Gallagher, Chairman of Gallagher Estates, said “I was very pleased with the support we received from Gateley on this. They built a great team and worked tirelessly to ensure the legal process ran smoothly to completion”.

Nick Smith added: “Tony and his team have built a first-rate business in Gallagher Estates. We were delighted to advise on the sale to L&Q and are confident the business will continue to flourish under their ownership”.