Untypical (originally Kier Living, part of the

Kier Group Kier Group plc is a British construction, services and property group active in building and civil engineering, support services, and the Private Finance Initiative. Founded in 1928 in Stoke-on-Trent it initially specialised in concrete enginee ...

, and later Tilia Homes) is a British

housebuilding Home construction or residential construction is the process of constructing a house, apartment building, or similar residential building generally referred to as a 'home' when giving consideration to the people who might now or someday reside t ...

company.

History

Following a failed

rights issue A rights issue or rights offer is a dividend of subscription rights to buy additional securities in a company made to the company's existing security holders. When the rights are for equity securities, such as shares, in a public company, it can ...

during late 2018, financially troubled

began an extensive restructuring, debt reduction, cost-cutting and disposals programme in 2019; after the firm received significant interest in its housing division ''Kier Living'', it opted to start the sale process.

Terra Firma Capital Partners Terra Firma Capital Partners Limited is a British private equity firm. Financier Guy Hands founded the firm in 2002 through the spin-off of Nomura Principal Finance Group. The firm, which traces its roots to the formation of its predecessor i ...

was one of several parties that opted to place a bid. The sale of Kier Living was slowed by the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

but by early 2021 progress picked up. Kier publicly stated that it aimed to receive around £100 million for the business. On 6 April 2021, ''

Sky News Sky News is a British free-to-air television news channel, live stream news network and news organisation. Sky News is distributed via an English-language radio news service, and through online channels. It is owned by Sky Group, a division of ...

'' confirmed that Kier Living would be acquired by Terra Firma for £110 million, subject to agreement at a meeting of Kier shareholders in early May, with completion expected by mid-June 2021. Kier Living was bought by a new company owned by Hands, and was rebranded as Tilia Homes in May 2021. The business completed over 1,100 private and affordable homes in the year to June 2020. It built 1,450 homes across its central, eastern, northern and western regions in the year to June 2021. In July 2021, Terra Firma was rumoured to have submitted a £700 million bid to purchase Keepmoat Homes, which it reportedly envisioned combining with Tilia Homes. However, Keepmoat was acquired by rival company Aermont Capital instead. Months later, Terra Firma planned to acquire another house builder, Hopkins Homes, which it had been rumoured to have valued at around £300 million. The acquisition was completed in January 2022. During late 2021 and early 2022, various changes amongst Tilia Homes' senior management were made, including the appointment of Andrew Hammond as divisional managing director and the departure of chief operating officer Mike Coker after less than a year with the firm. In October 2024, Terra Firma announced it was merging Tilia Homes with Hopkins Homes, the largest privately-owned housebuilder in

East Anglia East Anglia is an area of the East of England, often defined as including the counties of Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire, with parts of Essex sometimes also included. The name derives from the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of the East Angles, ...

. The merged business was named 'untypical'.

References

External links

* 2021 establishments in England British companies established in 2021 Housebuilding companies of the United Kingdom 2021 mergers and acquisitions {{England-company-stub