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Crest Nicholson registered office
Crest Nicholson Limited
Crest House, Pyrcroft Road
Chertsey
Surrey, KT16 9GN
Tel: 01932 580555
Fax: 0870 336 3990
E mail: info@crestnicholson.com
Out of office emergency number all Regions Tel: 0845 604 4424
Crest Nicholson Homes regional offices
The Company was originally founded by Bryan Skinner in 1963 as Crest Homes and floated on the London Stock Exchange five years later. Crest bought En-Tout-Cas, a leading name in tennis court construction in 1969. In 1971, Crest acquired Tony Pidgley’s earth moving business. Pidgley teamed up with Jim Farrer, a board member and originally the estate agent that had provided Skinner with his first land. The two ran Crest Homes until 1975 when they left to form Berkeley Homes.
A new company Crest Securities, was formed in 1972 to facilitate further diversification. At the end of that year, Crest bought the leading yacht maker Camper Nicholsons, giving rise to the current name Crest Nicholson. Other acquisitions included Lamson Engineering (1975), Crofton (1979), Greenwood Electronic (1985) and the west-country construction firm of CH Pearce in 1985.
Bryan Skinner retired in 1983 and the gradual process of disposal of the non-housing businesses began in the late 80’s enabling the housing division to follow a policy of acquiring a long-term land bank.
Crest was taken private on 3rd May 2007 after a £1.2bn take-over by HBOS and Scottish entrepreneur Sir Tom Hunter founder of Kwik-Fit. When the housing market crashed, Sir Tom's equity of around £45m was written-off along with the £648m of debt. At the time Crest's management were given a 10pc stake as an incentive. Crest’s other owners included a collection of banks and hedge funds.
Crest became owned by a consortium of 24 banks after a £630m debt-for-equity swap in March 2009. This unwound a debt-fuelled £1.2bn takeover of the housebuilder by Sir Tom Hunter and HBOS in 2007. Despite this, Crest Nicholson was still saddled with more than £500m of debt, racking up huge interest bills.
In April 2009 Hugh Osmond, a businessman who made his name at Pizza Express and Punch Taverns, made a £350m approach for Crest through his new Horizon investment venture. This was rejected by company. At that time, other house builders including Persimmon, Galliford Try and Redrow were also thought to be also considering a bid for the company. In the accounts to 31 October 2009, Crest made a £50.7m loss, making its debt burden difficult to support.
In September 2010 the US debt fund specialist Varde swooped on Crest, buying a 30% equity stake and a quarter of the company’s loans from the Lloyds Banking Group in a £150m deal. The hedge fund then demanded the remaining owners and management work to refinance and restructure the company's debts. The US investment company is known as a "loan to own" investor, acquiring a company debt with a view to taking large ownership positions in target companies.
Varde had been secretly buying Crest's £500m debt pile with the intention to clear the 75% mark. This enabled Varde to implement a scheme of arrangement that cut Crest's borrowings and complete a take-over through a debt-for-equity swap. On 23rd March 2011, Crest wrote to their lenders informing them that Varde now controls more than 80% of the company and that it is working with the hedge fund on a formal restructuring of the balance sheet. Crest's management, including chief executive Stephen Stone, retains ownership of around 10% of the company under Varde's plans.
Crest had loans of £431 million which were due for repayment in 2013. Crest Nicholson re floated on the London stock Exchange on 13 February 2013 prices at 220p. This raised £225 million with £169 being paid to existing shareholders and £56 million to pay down loans.
Alan Goldman Group Chairman
Stephen Stone Group Chief Executive
Number of new homes built in 2014 financial year ended 31 October 2014 - 2,530
(2013 - 2,172 : 2012 - 1,882 : 2011 - 1,520
2010 - 1,609 : 2009 - 1,878)
Number of NHBC awards per year (averaged over last seven years)
11 Quality awards 4 Seal of Excellence awards.
Homes per quality award ratio:
2014 - 211 homes built per award.
2013 - 310
2012 - 269
2011 - 152
2010 - 178
The lower the number the better the quality.
Information on national house builders
Crest Nicholson regional offices:
Crest House
Pyrcroft Road
Chertsey
Surrey KT16 9GN
Tel: 01932 580 444
Fax: 0870 336 3991
E mail: south@crestnicholson.com
Customer Service
Tel: 01932 580444
E mail: customer.serviceo@crestnicholson.com
Out of office emergency number all regions
Tel: 0845 604 4424
South West Region
Crest House
Lime Kiln Close
Stoke Gifford
Bristol BS34 8ST
Tel: 0117 923 6600
Fax: 0117 969 5792
E mail: southwest@crestnicholson.com
Customer Service
Tel: 0117 923 6600
E mail: customer.servicew@crestnicholson.com
Eastern Region
One Myrtle Road
Brentwood
Essex CM14 5EG
Tel: 01277 693 230
Fax: 01277 693 277
E mail: eastern@crestnicholson.com
Customer Service
Tel: 01277 693230
E mail: customer.serviceea@crestnicholson.com
Regeneration Office
Crest House
Pyrcroft Road
Chertsey
Surrey KT16 9GN
Tel: 01932 580 333
Fax: 0870 336 3992
E mail: regeneration@crestnicholson.com
Customer Service
Tel: 0808 168 6168
E mail: custservre@crestnicholson.com
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