KPMG advises Hurstwood on £100m refinancing

Accountant KPMG's restructuring and tax practices in Manchester advised property developer and investor Hurstwood on its successful debt restructuring and group reorganisation.

The restructure comprises a £100m bilateral debt facility provided by five banks: Co-Operative Bank, Royal Bank of Scotland, Bank of Ireland, Alliance & Leicester and Yorkshire Bank.

KPMG said Hurstwood's group structure had been simplified with a new strategy focussed fully on property investment and management.

Stephen Ashworth, chairman of Hurstwood, remains the majority shareholder of the group.

Andy Park, managing director of Hurstwood, commented: "This agreement is a massive vote of confidence from the five banks who have collectively recognised that the management team at Hurstwood has the expertise and experience to manage the firm through an incredibly testing economic climate.

"While we certainly recognise that the market will continue to prove challenging over the coming months, critically, we now have a prudent and robust platform in place from which we can weather the storm. We'd like to thank our team of advisors at KPMG and Addleshaw Goddard for their invaluable help and advice over the last few months."

Andrew Burn, director, KPMG restructuring in Manchester, added: "This is a great result for Hurstwood and all the banks involved. In handling this restructure, we were able to apply our wealth of experience of dealing with companies in situations of stress to find an innovative solution to reorganise the group."