Musings of a London Property Search Agent

CPC Group owned by the Candy Brothers have pulled out of the redevelopment of the 13 acre Chelsea Barracks site, selling an option to buy the Candy’s stake to existing partner Qatari Diar, Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund, according to a story in The Gulf Times today.

Much was made of the purchase in January when the Candy Brothers and their partners purchased the site from the Ministry of Defence for £959 million ($1.5 billion) in January.   The Candys have been hit by the credit crunch, with news last week that they were selling out of a project in the US following a failure to convert bridging finance to long-term construction finance since the beginning of the credit crunch.

The Candys planned to develop the Chelsea Barracks site for high net worth individuals, followed the lines of their One Hyde Park development, where purchasers were rumoured to have paid in the region of £100 million for some of the best flats in the block.  Purchasers reputedly signed non-disclosure documents and most apartments were purchased using companies to reduce the tax burden so exact figures have for the most part remained out of the public domain.  Likewise, the latest deal struck with Qatari Diar was for an undisclosed sum.  This London Property Search Agent is monitoring developments so watch this space.

 http://www.gulf-times.com/site/topics/article.asp?cu_no=2&item_no=253547&version=1&template_id=57&parent_id=56

Technorati Tags: Candy & Candy, Candy Brothers, Chelsea Barracks, Chelsea Property, London Property Search Agent, Prime London Property, Qatari Diar

Tags: Candy & Candy, Candy Brothers, Chelsea Barracks, Chelsea Property, London Property Search Agent, Prime London Property, Qatari Diar

Musings of a London Property Finder

Following the Failure of Kaupthing Bank, one of Candy & Candy’s investment partners in the NoHo development in Fitzrovia and 9900 Wilshire Boulevard in Beverley Hills, it turns out that Candy & Candy have transferred their stake in the NoHo development in exchange for the equity belonging to Kaupthing in the Beverley Hills project.   The move is thought to be a key step to stabilize the future of the $1 billion development project which they now control with London restaurateur Richard Caring. 

According to The Los Angeles Times, the Candys are in default on the $365 million bridging finance loan they took out to purchase their $500 million stake in 2007.  However they have failed to secure construction finance, since the credit crunch struck.  Watch this space for more news about the Candys from the London Property Finder

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-bevhills31-2008oct31,0,139088.story

Update on The Times Online – interview with the Candys

http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/movers_and_shakers/article5113713.ece

Technorati Tags: 9900 Wilshire Boulevard, Candy & Candy, Candy Brothers, Caring Candy development, Kaupthing, London Property Finder, Noho Development, Richard Caring

Tags: 9900 Wilshire Boulevard, Candy & Candy, Candy Brothers, Caring Candy development, Kaupthing, London Property Finder, Noho Development, Richard Caring