We purchased a property company with an industrial estate worth £9.1m and a site in December 2005. The vendor wanted to onward sell the site to himself. Separately, there was a European grant which had complicated repayment conditions which could have restricted the vendor’s ability to deal. We saw opportunity where most companies saw an obstacle.

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We conducted corporate due diligence as well as property due diligence. We could see the benefit of a tax saving on reduced capital gains tax and stamp duty saving.

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Our ability to understand the layers of legal stakeholders and their respective requirements was crucial to being able to consider this deal. As a result, and because of the tax benefits, we were able to substantially reduce the equity required and thereby accelerate the return on capital invested.