A cross-firm team at Bristol-headquartered Burges Salmon has advised HSBC Bank and Bank Leumi (UK) on a major refinancing of retirement village developer Audley Group.
The £125m revolving credit facility to Audley Group to refinances its existing facilities with AIG, Bank Leumi and Coutts and will fund existing and future developments.
The Burges Salmon team was led by banking partner Richard Leeming with input from senior associate Alistair Rattray, solicitor Claire Hamer and trainee solicitor Jennifer Davis from banking, partner Sally Jupp, partner Paul Browne and senior associate Paul Doherty from real estate and senior associate James Horton from construction. 
Richard Leeming, pictured, said: “We are delighted to have worked with HSBC and Bank Leumi and alongside Audley on what is a significant financing transaction in the retirement living sector. Retirement villages will continue to make up an increasing proportion of UK housing stock due to our ageing population and so we expect to see a growth in the number of similar transactions in the future.
“Our expertise in the housing and healthcare sectors allowed us to draw this transaction to a successful close and we look forward to working closely with HSBC and Bank Leumi in the future in relation to the development of further schemes.”
Audley Group, the UK’s leading provider of luxury retirement villages, said that the facility would fund all existing developments across its luxury Audley Villages brand and new mid-market provider Mayfield Villages, as well as new locations, covering the cost of land acquisition and development.
In addition to the 17 villages that sit under the Audley Villages brand, which when completed will provide at least 2,000 units nationwide, 500 units are currently planned at future Mayfield Villages sites, including the first location at Watford.
