Hassett and TGF form Liverpool housing JV

Start-up Hassett Homes has signed a joint venture deal with lender TGF Capital to build an initial 43 homes across the Liverpool City Region with a combined development value of £12m, and further schemes in future.

Sites have been identified for the first three projects, in Liverpool, Ormskirk and St Helens, but detailed plans have yet to be drawn up.

Under the deal, TGF Capital will take responsibility for securing financing for each scheme, using its expertise to raise low-cost debt from the capital markets to fund projects through the site purchase and planning process.

Separate special purpose vehicles are to be established for each housing development, with varying debt and equity ratios, and TGF Capital will be a shareholder and board member of each SPV.

The parties declined to reveal the finer details of their funding arrangement, including how much equity each party is putting into the SPVs.

It is understood that the partnership enables Liverpool-based start-up developer Hassett Homes, founded by managing director Jamie Blennerhassett in 2017, to gain access to competitively priced funds on the wholesale markets.

The JV aims to pursue acquisitions of bigger sites in future after progressing the initial three schemes, Place North West understands.

Work on the first scheme is expected to commence in September, subject to the completion of a land purchase and obtaining planning consent.

Blennerhassett said: “There are opportunities in the land market presently and our tie-up with TGF Capital will enable us to capitalise on them and scale up.”

“Market fundamentals remain strong and, while the impact of Covid-19 cannot be underestimated, the underlying strengths of the housing market are such that we expect demand and sales to remain buoyant.”

Steven Peck, director of TGF Capital, which is part of a group of companies that includes Tower Grange Finance, added: “We see the opportunity for a strategic partnership that can deliver on the ambitions of various local authorities in the North West for housing growth.

“We see Hassett Homes as a disruptor brand in what is a quite traditional sector.”