Hall & Wilcox advises Nostra Property Group on its agreement to acquire Porter Davis’s multiple dwelling business and complete up to 375 homes

Hall & Wilcox has advised Nostra Property Group on its agreement to acquire Porter Davis’s multiple dwelling business. This will allow up to 375 Porter Davis end customers to have their homes completed. Hall & Wilcox has worked closely with Mark Croft Legal on the transaction and this collaborative approach with the client and other advisors was instrumental in getting the deal across the line.

Following the sale, Nostra will complete up to 126 townhouses, commence construction for up to 169 townhouses, and offer ongoing employment for 16 Porter Davis employees.

Nostra will also support approximately 80 Porter Davis retail customers whose homes are yet to be commenced to provide their building services.

Partner Ed Paton led the Hall & Wilcox team, supported by Partners John O’Kane, Scott Butler and Karl Rozenbergs and Special Counsel Piers Mitchem and Nicole Tumiati. The transaction required expertise in property and construction, mergers and acquisitions, restructuring and insolvency and employment.

Ed Paton said the sale will provide much-needed certainty to developers and to customers who have been caught in limbo since Porter Davis’s collapse.

‘It’s a smart deal for all stakeholders. This sale is critical for the individually affected homebuyers, who will now be able to see the completion of their partially built home or commence their project. It is also good for the community and affordable housing sector generally, as a collapse of this size affects all in the industry,’ he said.

Nostra Property Group was founded in 2006 and is one of Victoria’s pre-eminent residential home builders, specialising in both townhouse developments and freestanding dwellings.

In addition to the 16 Porter Davis members joining, Nostra will also recruit new roles and provide continuing work and employment to subcontractors and trades people within the construction industry.

Nostra Managing Director and founder Anthony Caruana said, ‘This is a natural fit for our business. We will work towards not only completing the existing partially built homes in this portfolio but also those projects yet to commence. This will ensure that we can provide much needed certainty to the families who have purchased a Porter Davis designed townhouse and they can once again look forward to having a new place to call home.’

Hall & Wilcox has a leading restructuring and insolvency practice. We act for various stakeholders of distressed businesses, including directors, shareholders, financiers and buyers or sellers of distressed assets.

Hall & Wilcox is a leading independent law firm. We have more than 1000 people, including 120+ partners, working across eight offices. We build partnerships with and service corporate, public sector and private clients, both Australian-based and those offshore doing business in Australia.