Palatine Invests in Award Winning Housing Provider Jessup

We have acquired a majority stake in Jessup, one of the Midlands’ most respected developers of affordable homes.

Established for 34 years, Staffordshire-based Jessup is a trusted partner to local authorities and registered providers of social housing, including Birmingham City Council, Dudley Council, Cannock Council, Wrekin Housing Trust, Greensquare Accord, Optivo, Stonewater, whg, EMH and Trent and Dove.

Its 92-strong team provides a full development management service from land acquisition and planning consent, through to the construction of high-quality residential stock, and it has preferred partner status with Homes England.

As part of the transaction, former Westleigh founder Chris Beighton and Director Matt Moore have joined Jessup’s leadership team as Chairman and CEO respectively. Jessup founder Clive Jessup retains a stake in the business as Founder Director, and the deal also sees Partner Richard Thomas and Investment Director Tom Hustler join the board.

We invested in housebuilder Westleigh in 2016 before selling the business to Countryside PLC, generating a 3x return. Beighton and Moore bring a combined 50 years of experience in the housebuilding sector to Jessup’s leadership team and industry-leading expertise in modern methods of construction (MMC), having pioneered the adoption of timber frame construction in the affordable housing sector while part of Westleigh.

The investment from our Buyout Fund provides Jessup with a solid platform for growth as it targets expansion into the East Midlands as well as continuing to develop its existing West Midlands operation. The business currently delivers approximately 500 homes per year and has diversified into mixed-use development for customers, including the YMCA.

Richard Thomas, Partner and head of our Midlands office, said: “Clive and his team have grown Jessup into a trusted, valued and longstanding partner to housing providers in the Midlands with an enviable reputation for quality and delivery.

“With a growing demand for affordable homes, our backing will enable Jessup to support more local authorities and registered providers as they seek to ease the housing crisis, further demonstrating the positive impact private equity can have on the economy and society.”

Clive Jessup added: “The addition of Chris and Matt to our leadership team and the backing of an investor with an excellent track record in our market marks the start of an exciting period of growth for Jessup, presenting new opportunities for our fantastic employees, suppliers and customers.

“Palatine have a deep understanding of our market and the expertise to further develop our already strong ESG credentials, at a time when this is of growing importance to our customers across the public and social housing sectors.”

Jessup will also benefit from our industry-leading approach to sustainability, which places environmental, social and governance factors at the centre of our value enhancement strategy, and then delivers these through our award-winning ESG framework.

We were advised by Alantra (corporate finance), Browne Jacobson (legals), RSM (FDD) and CIL (CDD). Jessup was advised by Clearwater and Gateley.