Hackness Farm affordable housing development by Kier Living Kier’s £110m deal to sell its housebuilding business will not do much to cut its debt pile, analysts say. The contractor announced on Friday afternoon it had reached an agreement with private equity outfit Terra Firma to sell Kier Living for £110m. The actual net proceeds from the sale will be £100m, with £75m of this being used to cut Kier’s debt pile. Progressive Equity Research analyst Alastair Stewart said the sale would “not make much of a dent” in the firm’s net debt, which stood at around £430m during the six months to 31 December. “Contractors are normally expected to carry significant net cash,” he said. “It seems inevitable that an equity issue will be needed and, ideally for Kier, more than the c. £140m, similar to the market capitalisation, suggested in the media recently.”