Exclusive:Highlands Rewilding land goes on sale for £10m to pay back bank loan used to buy it

Estates owned by a rewilding company headed by a former director of Greenpeace are to go on the market for almost £10 million to repay a loan taken out for buying land for nature restoration.

Jeremy Leggett, of Highlands Rewilding Ltd (HRL), has until January to pay off £11m borrowed from state-owned UK Infrastructure Bank, largely used to buy the company’s Tayvallich estate in Argyll last May.

In draft brochures seen by The Scotsman, the company’s 514-hectares estate across Ulva and the Isle of Danna on the Tayvallich Peninsula is going on the market for £4.25m.

Beldorney, a listed castle and 351-hectares estate in Aberdeenshire, bought by the company in 2021, is also for sale at £5m.

Further details on the properties will be released later this month from Strutt & Parker who are managing the sales.

Mr Leggett said he wanted the sales to replicate HRL’s sale of part of the Tayvallich estate to the Barrahormid Trust earlier this year. After purchasing the land for £3.2m, the Trust holds the land in perpetuity for nature restoration and community development, including house building.

Highlands Rewilding manages rewilding projects on several estates, including Beldorney Estate, which it is putting up for sale for £5m

In a letter to community groups, seen by The Scotsman, Mr Leggett confirmed residents get first refusal as buyers, with the deadline of December 10 to make an offer.

Community groups have said various meetings and votes are taking place over the coming days in response to the news.

Failing a community bid, Mr Leggett said the priority will go to land buyers “prepared to guarantee nature recovery and community prosperity in perpetuity through establishment of a dedicated Trust, with HRL partnered as land manager, sharing natural capital proceeds. “

Mr Leggett said other potential buyers the company is targeting include family offices, environmental NGOs, and other philanthropic bodies “where there is strong alignment of values and objectives.”

The second priority will be to buyers who might not guarantee the nature and community in perpetuity model, but are aligned with the mission of nature restoration and community.

Mr Leggett said there is a chance the company will be forced to sell land to entities not interested in either of the above.

The letter said: “We are aware that 10th December is a very short timeline for communities to organise and submit a bid. But if our equity round fails as the end of October approaches, we will have no choice. Our loans must be repaid on time.”

The letter confirmed given the buyer preference, HRL is not obliged to accept the highest bid.

Mr Leggett said he is also in talks with 31 financial institutions to help raise the funds.

Martin Mellor, chairman of Tayvallich Initiative, said the community was “concerned” to hear of the proposed sales with a quick timeframe.

Dr Josh Doble, Community Land Scotland (CLS) Policy Manager, said CLS was “deeply concerned” about the sales “to repay enormous loans they took out to buy the land in the first place.”

He previously told The Scotsman: “Scottish land acquisitions should not be based upon these speculative financial models which require the rapid creation of underdeveloped natural capital markets in order to be financially viable.”

Mr Leggett said accessing finance in “an embryonic nature recovery market” had been challenging given governments had been “slow” in delivering biodiversity commitments.

He said: “We have deliberately skated on thin ice to try and drive a rapidly-scaling breakthrough for nature restoration in Scotland. We have done this because of the dire imperatives of reversing global biodiversity collapse and climate meltdown, and with the consensus agreement of our shareholders.”