Croudace has emerged as the latest privately owned house builder to put itself up for sale. Sunday Telegraph
The company is thought to be worth about £130m,and has held a beauty parade of advisers to work on a strategic review, including a sale. Croudace is majority owned Anthony Brotherton Ratcliffe and his family.
A sale of Croudace would be a coup for the family given market conditions. Over the past few months shares in the sector have plummeted, with companies such as Barratt seeing their market value halved on concerns over the credit crunch and a downturn in the housing market.
A housing insider who has seen the sale proposals said: 'It is not something we would be interested in, given the current market. They have got their timing badly wrong on this one. A year ago house builders were fetching huge multiples. [Now] that is distinctly unlikely.'
In its last set of accounts Croudace reported a turnover of £117.9m and net assets of £83.7m. On recent multiples it could fetch between £100m and £150m. The company declined to comment.