Housing provider Home Group says it has boosted liquidity by £260m thanks to successful renegotiations with lenders and one new source of funds.
The £490m-turnover housing association has reached agreements on facilities from existing lenders Lloyds, HSBC, and Nationwide - increasing to £250m, £175m and £140m respectively - and secured a new £110m facility with Barclays. As part of the refinancing, Home Group said it had aligned and modernised financial covenants, spread refinancing risk, achieved competitive commercial terms and secured options to extend facilities in the future.
The Newcastle-based organisation, which invested £187m to build new homes in 2023/24, said the facilities would allow it to continue developing properties for affordable rent, social rent and affordable home ownership.
Steve Hallowell, Home Group’s director of treasury and investor relations, said: "This financing exercise follows a review of our treasury strategy which was approved by our board in November. The strategy at this point focuses on increasing the pool of revolving credit facilities available to support our investment ambitions. We do expect to return to the capital markets for longer dated funding in future to repay drawn facilities and refinance some our shorter dated funding.
"We are very grateful for the continued support of lenders Lloyds, HSBC and Nationwide, who have been key financing partners for the group for many years. And we are delighted to add Barclays to our pool of strategic funding partners. We very much look forward to working with all of our funders in future as we contribute much needed additional affordable housing in response to the housing crisis and improve the energy efficiency of our homes as we target a minimum EPC C for our homes by 2030 and net zero by 2050.”
Melanie Russell, director of housing at Lloyds, said: "There is a chronic shortage of social housing across the country and so we are proud to support Home Group as it plays its part to address this issue. We look forward to seeing the team deliver its many goals, including the creation and management of more much-needed affordable housing across the Ƶ with this additional sustainability-linked funding from Lloyds."
David Whelan, Relationship Director, Social Housing, at HSBC Ƶ said: “HSBC Ƶ have enjoyed a fantastic lending relationship with Home Group for a number of years and we are delighted to have been able to further support the group’s development and investment ambitions through our new £50m facility. This will enable the group to continue to build more affordable housing, alongside improving the existing homes for the benefit of their customers.”
Home Group were supported by advisor Centrus, with Devonshires providing legal support. Legal advice to the banks was provided by Pinsent Masons.
