High-stakes, high-profile, high-pressure. The More House transaction presented unique challenges. Acting for Coutts, who facilitated the loan funds for this deal, we needed to move £37million swiftly and seamlessly – to enable SAV Group to secure the development of this unique asset in a rapidly-evolving City of London property market. As this was a listed heritage building with complicated construction plans, there were added work streams to navigate – and thorough due diligence to complete. With time being critical, we needed to collaborate with all parties and draw on the depth of expertise from across our own legal network.

Our Private Wealth Finance experts worked  collaboratively to ensure a fast transaction. A deal of this scale and size, involving multiple parties and legal teams, ran the risk of becoming convoluted with protracted negotiations, so a personal touch was key. By harnessing the strength of our own longstanding partnership, we tuned into each party’s distinct needs, taking a truly personal approach. That meant ‘matchmaking’ buyers and lenders, picking up the phone and spearheading regular all-party calls and in-person meetings that brought the spirit of collaboration to the table. Swift decision-making and pre-emptive pragmatism on behalf of our client kept momentum. Our strength-in-depth approach also involved assembling a network of specialists from across the firm’s regional offices, supporting the core Private Wealth Finance team in London – conveniently close to More House.

At a time when London property is at a premium, closing this PBSA deal has opened the door to 115 new sustainably built student residences in the heart of the capital. More House is set to lay the foundations for future development ventures, demonstrating how wasted land can be transformed into assets. At the same time, it’s shifting perspectives around the role of the lawyer in high-value, time-critical deals of this nature. By channelling our private wealth expertise and relationship with Coutts and SAV Group, we delivered a personal approach, streamlining negotiations, minimising delays and bringing clarity to complexity. Which, in turn, lead to carefully considered judgement calls that protected our client’s asset and interests. While the lawyers are working proactively behind the scenes to make the remarkable seem routine, the client should remain rightly centre stage.