Great Places strikes £100m funding deal
The housing group has agreed terms on a package that will support its plans to deliver 11,000 affordable homes by 2030.
Great Places was advised in the process by Savills Financial Consultants, the treasury and funding advisory team within the consultancy’s housing division.
The finance package agreed with NatWest is a revolving credit facility consisting of £85m refinancing of existing debt and £15m new debt. The deal consolidates existing loan funding held by Great Places and Equity Housing Association that pre-dated their merger in April 2020.
Devonshires provided legal advice to the borrower and Addleshaw Goddard the lender.
Among its other commitments, 25,000-home Great Places said that it aims to achieve an Energy Efficiency Performance EPC rating of C for all its homes by 2028, lowering running costs and helping address the cost of living crisis.
Phil Elvy, executive director of finance at Great Places, said: “This forms an important piece of our funding jigsaw as we continue to invest in the safety and energy efficiency of our existing homes, as well as deliver a very significant number of much needed, new, affordable homes across the North West and South Yorkshire.”
Marcos Navarro, director of housing finance and sustainability lead at NatWest, said: “Great Places Housing Group has an ambitious plan which will see quality, affordable, sustainable housing built in communities that need it.
“We are thrilled to support it with funding which will enable it to do this and will continue to work with Great Places as it develops further sustainability goals.”
Projects the organisation is currently working on include the keenly-awaited redevelopment of Manchester’s Ancoats Dispensary, to be delivered by contractor Eric Wright.
