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Affordable housing provider, Link Group Ltd has recently secured £50 million 20-year funding with the support of Newbridge Advisors.

The funds, which have been structured with the benefit of a financial guarantee provided by Assured Guaranty (Europe) plc and its affiliate Assured Guaranty Municipal Corp. (together referred to as Assured Guaranty), have been provided by Canada Life.

Neil Hall, Link Group Director of Finance and Corporate Services, commented: “We are delighted to have secured this funding to support our significant development programme.

“In line with the Scottish Government’s commitment to building more affordable housing, we have an ambitious development programme and this funding package will help us to deliver these homes.

“Link is a financially robust group and we need to ensure any financing we secure is reflective of our strong credit profile.

“Cost and certainty of funding were our two key areas of focus, and this financing, structured by Newbridge Advisors, delivered on both.”

The Notes have been rated AA by S&P Global Ratings, in line with Assured Guaranty’s financial strength rating, which offers significant capital benefits to certain investors under Solvency II. On this basis, this transaction was able to offer significant value to Link in terms of all-in funding costs.

Grant Vaughan, Partner at Newbridge Advisors, said:

“This financing structure is designed to offer pricing benefits to a number of social housing providers. We are thrilled to have completed this transaction for Link, at pricing which is tighter than what was being offered in the broader market. We are pleased to have been trusted by Link to work together to demonstrate the effectiveness of this financing structure. “

David Marchant, Chief Investment Officer at Canada Life Investments said:

“We are delighted to enter into this transaction with Link Group. We have a long track record lending to the social housing sector providing a variety of funding solutions and look forward to working with Link and Assured Guaranty over the term of this private placement.”

Newbridge Advisors supported the Swan Housing and Homes England teams on financing a £170m mixed use development in Basildon.

More than 760 new homes and almost 8,000 square metres of retail and commercial space are being built in Basildon following a £30 million funding boost from Homes England.

The loan from the government’s housing delivery agency will help to redevelop the Craylands Estate, renamed as Beechwood Village, and the Laindon Shopping Centre, which will become Laindon Place.

More than 550 new homes are being built at the Beechwood site, including up to 110 affordable homes, whilst 210 homes and over 7,000 sq m of commercial space will be developed at Laindon.

The funding will allow Swan Housing Association, who are working in partnership with Basildon Borough Council, to develop both schemes at the same time, enabling the final three phases of regeneration at Beechwood Village and new homes at Laindon shopping centre to be completed more quickly.

When completed, Laindon Place will include a new high street with shops, a supermarket, and a new health centre. The new homes to be built at Beechwood Village will be in addition to more than 400 homes, retail units and community centre completed in earlier phases.

Homes England has agreed the loan as part of its £290 million Estates Regeneration Fund, which offers finance to kick-start and accelerate the regeneration of estates.

Almost all the homes will be built off site at Swan’s factory in Basildon, using pre-manufactured modular construction techniques.

Minister of State for Housing, Kit Malthouse MP, said:

“This funding not only supports more than 760 much-needed new homes, but further strengthens a community that residents can be proud of through new commercial and civic spaces for the people of Basildon.

“It’s all part of how this Government is supporting the delivery 300,000 new homes a year by the mid-2020s, helping a new generation to realise the dream of home ownership.”

Sir Edward Lister, Chairman of Homes England said: “The Beechwood Village and Laindon Place regeneration projects are key priorities for Basildon and we’ve worked closely with Swan Housing Association to ensure the new homes local people need can become a reality.”

“Homes England strongly supports the use of modern methods of construction (MMC) as a means of delivering good quality homes at pace, so it’s great to see these methods being used to build better homes faster in Basildon.”

It’s anticipated that work at both sites will be completed by autumn 2024.

Geoff Pearce, Executive Director – Regeneration and Development of Swan Housing Association, said:

“Swan Housing Association and our long-term partner, Basildon Borough Council, are delighted to receive this funding boost from Homes England. It will enable us to build much needed high-quality homes, more quickly, at both Beechwood Village and Laindon Place. These homes will be built both using our state-of-the-art modular factory in Basildon and by traditional methods of construction. This partnership helps Swan towards our ambitious target of building an additional 10,000 homes by 2027 and Basildon towards its strategic growth goals for the Borough.”

Newbridge has advised a joint venture of Places for people and Balfour Beatty on winning and reaching Financial Close on the first phase of the development of 1,500 new homes on the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, with debt funded by Homes England.

Investment will help create two new neighbourhoods at Stratford. More than 40 per cent of homes in the first phase of the development will be affordable. The development includes schools, business and commercial space.

More than 1,500 new homes, including 450 affordable homes, will be created across the two communities, which will be known as East Wick and Sweetwater.

Schools, green spaces, business and creative space, leisure and community facilities will also be developed at the two sites.

Homes England have agreed a £78 million loan to fund the first four phases of the scheme, being developed on land owned by the London Legacy Development Corporation (LLDC).

Housing Minister Kit Malthouse MP said:

“We have not built enough homes in the capital over the last 30 years, and it’s ordinary Londoners who are paying the price.

“Brick-by-brick we are turning that around and this investment in the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park will help get more than 1,500 properties built.”

It is anticipated that the first phase of the development will be completed in summer 2021, with work at East Wick and Sweetwater being fully completed by 2028.

Sir Edward Lister, Chairman of Homes England added: “Homes England is committed to helping ambitious partners build quality homes at pace, in the areas of greatest need.

“We’re delighted to be supporting Balfour Beatty Investments and Places for People to create the homes and neighbourhoods people in London deserve.”

A2Dominion Housing Group Limited have agreed £75 million of unsecured funding, issued off its EMTN Programme, with settlement deferred to March 2022. The 20-year bonds are priced with a fixed coupon of 4.25% and as such remove any market risk over what is undoubtedly going to be a volatile period.

Newbridge Advisors worked closely with A2Dominion to understand their funding requirements and sourced the liquidity from BAE Systems Pension Fund. The transaction is designed to minimise any refinancing risks in relation to A2Dominion’s £150m retail bond (at a coupon of 4.75%) maturing in October 2022, whilst avoiding any associated cost of carry.

Dean Tufts, A2Dominion’s Executive Director (Finance & Strategy), said “We were very pleased to secure this long-term funding which further demonstrates the prudent financial strategy we have in place. The certainty of this funding will enable us to continue our focus to deliver high quality homes and invest in local communities.”

Devonshires provided legal advice to A2Dominion Housing Group Limited, with Allen & Overy LLP providing legal advice to BAE Systems Pension Fund.

Newbridge advised Southern Housing Group issued a £300m (incl £100m retained) 29-year secured bond issue at Gilts +158 basis points, offering a coupon of 3.50%. Primary lead for Newbridge was Grant Vaughan who has extensive experience in structuring and executing bonds and private placements for housing associations.

Newbridge are pleased to welcome Grant Vaughan, who joins from Lloyds Bank where he was a director in the DCM team. Grant will be enhancing our capital markets expertise and adding an institutional debt placement capability in both the social housing and infrastructure space in order to provide a broader range of services to our clients. Grant is well known in the social housing sector, having led in excess of 50 transactions across the bond and private placement markets. Grant has also led a number of infrastructure refinancings, most recently the Connect Plus (M25) bond as well as other PPP transactions.

Newbridge also welcomes Henri Cooke, who joins from Operis, enhancing our analytical team.

Commenting on these recent appointments, Newbridge Advisors Partner Matthew Houseley said: “We are really excited that Grant has joined, adding a new product to Newbridge’s services and, with Henri, we look forward to increasing our ability to support clients in delivering more social housing and infrastructure projects.”