<p>Countryside has completed a £250 million share placing, it announced today (July 23), as it aims to strengthen its balance sheet following the effects of the UK lockdown and accelerate growth in its Partnerships division.</p> <p>Around £100 million of the completed placing will be used to bolster Countryside’s “current balance sheet position”, with the business repaying part of its drawn revolving credit facility.</p> <p>The mixed tenure developer intends to use the remaining £150 million for “growth investment”, including creating new Partnerships regions in south London, the South West and the Chilterns. </p> <p>Within this, £20 million will be invested in a second modular panel factory in Leicestershire, due to open in autumn 2021 with an estimated capacity to deliver up to 3,500 homes per year once fully operational. </p> <p>This adds to the group’s modular panel factory in Warrington – with a capacity for up to 1,500 homes per year - and a timber frame factory in Leicester.</p> <p>Countryside’s share placing follows a Q3 trading update revealing a 57% drop in total completions during the period from April 1 to June 30 2020 to 449 homes against Q3 2019. </p> <p>At the same time, the private average selling price increased …