Hungary-headquartered Cordia International, a pan-European residential developer, has entered the UK market with the acquisition of private rental sector (PRS) developer Blackswan Property.
Financial details were not disclosed.
Blackswan, based in Birmingham, has a pipeline of approximately £550 mln (€612 mln) in gross development value, comprising 1,800 homes plus significant commercial space across the West Midlands.
Tibor Földi, chairman of the board of Cordia, said: 'Our goal is to become one of the leading and most diversified residential development groups in Europe. The acquisition and recapitalisation of Blackswan is not only our debut in the UK, but the latest milestone of our international expansion strategy.'
The UK company will operate under the Cordia Blackswan brand and be led by the current management team. Blackswan is also planning to expand the team with a recruitment drive in the next few months to support the scale of its existing planned projects. Blackswan was founded by Marcus Hawley in 2009.
Cordia is the residential development platform of Futureal Group. Gábor Futó, founder and majority owner of Futureal, said: 'The Blackswan team shares the same values Futureal Group was built on: integrity, creativity, perseverance and team spirit.
'We also share a common desire to build lasting value for the communities we are working in by creating great new buildings, vibrant public spaces, respecting and building on heritage and having the imagination and commitment to pursue transformational urban renewal projects.'
The firm financed the transaction by using funds collected from the bond issuance under the National Bank of Hungary’s bond funding for growth scheme. Cordia said that the same funds had also been used for the acquisition of 93% of Warsaw listed Polish residential developer Polnord, and had been used to partly fund the deal for a 20% stake in Argo Properties, a Dutch company active in the residential rental and large-scale urban renewal business in Germany.
These deals together have increased Cordia’s development land bank to over 14,000 apartments. Cordia has recently issued a €135 mln 7-year bond and a €105 mln 10-year bond to fund its international expansion and foray into the private rental sector.
The deal was brokered by Tony Haran, Midlands Head of Residential Investment and Build to Rent expert in CBRE’s residential team. He advised Cordia on their first UK residential acquisition, following an initial fact-finding trip to the city.
