Moorfield fund buys Raven's stake in UK retirement village developer

London-based Moorfield Group has confirmed the conditional acquisition of a 75% stake in Audley Court, a developer and operator of retirement villages in the UK.

Moorfield is making the £15 mln (EUR 19 mln) investment through AC Holdings, a company wholly owned by its second fund, Moorfield Real Estate Fund ?? (MREF??). The funds will initially be used to refinance Audley's existing mezzanine financing. The fund will also provide a further EUR 51 mln to fund the developer's working capital, site purchases and new developments.

Audley is a developer and manager of independent living facilities for the elderly. AIM-listed Raven Mount had a 75% equity interest in Audley, with the remaining 25% held by Audley's management team.

Raven Mount said in a statement that Audley made a loss after tax of £2.3 mln for the 12 months to end-December 2007. At end-June this year Audley had net assets of £16.4 mln, £55.6 mln of property assets and third party loans of £34.4 mln that are being transferred with Audley as part of the disposal.

The disposal, Raven said, will result in a group loss on disposal of approximately £4 mln.

Raven Mount indicated that the sale of its stake in Audley is part of its strategy to concentrate on its Russian warehouse operation after an 'increasingly difficult year' for the Raven group. In July 2005, Raven Mount subscribed £10 mln towards the £153 mln flotation on AIM in London of Raven Russia, an investment company focused on warehouse property in St Petersburg and Moscow.

Bim Sandhu, Raven Mount's CEO, said: 'The disposal enables our restructuring to proceed with substantially more Raven Russia shares being distributed to shareholders than might otherwise have been the case. The disposal will leave us with net cash balances even before the separate receipt of the £15 mln cash that we shall be receiving as part of the disposal of our property fund management business.

Raven Mount announced last July that it intends to sell its Russian Property Fund Management Business to Raven Russia for £83.4 mln. The sum will be made up of £15 mln in cash and the rest in new Raven Russia shares.