L&Q and East Thames Finalise Merger
L&Q and East Thames have completed their merger this week.
The organisation will be called L&Q, with East Thames forming a wholly owned subsidiary.
The combined organisation owns and manages over 90,000 homes across the UK, worth an estimated £22 billion.
Prior to merger completion, the two organisations had a development pipeline of 43,000 homes. From today, the new organisation will improve its financial strength and set a vision to deliver 100,000 new homes with half being affordable to people on average and lower incomes.
Current projects by L&Q include Acton Gardens, Harvard Gardens and Quebec Quarter. East Thames is actively marketing homes at Prospect East.
L&Q has also successfully negotiated a £2.6 billion refinance package supported by key relationships with its banks.
David Montague, Group Chief Executive, said:
“We are delighted with the merger with East Thames. We have the ambition and the capacity to build quality homes, fit for the future, across multiple tenures at a greater scale than ever before. We want to continue to work with like-minded organisations and have the skills and financial strength to make a difference. I would like to thank our staff for their continued hard work and focus, and our residents for their views and feedback during the process. This is an exciting moment and I look forward to working with our new colleagues and residents to deliver our plans.”
Yvonne Arrowsmith, East Thames Chief Executive, commented:
“Our strong relationships in East London and Essex will help the merged entity accelerate growth in the South East over the next ten years. We believe that everyone should have a quality home they can afford. This merger will allow us to combine our social purpose and commercial drive to create homes and neighbourhoods we can be proud of and to provide even greater support to some of the most vulnerable members of society.”
- See new developments in London by L&Q
