Gloucestershire housing association secures £130 million investment

Published by

Nicky Godding

A Newent-based housing association, which has more than 4,100 homes across Gloucestershire and Herefordshire, has secured its first private placement investment of £80 million from a US-based institutional investor.

Two Rivers Housing secured the £130 million pound investment package, of which the £80 million makes up part, to support the delivery of affordable homes and stock investment across Gloucestershire and Herefordshire.

The deal was brokered by Santander which acted as the sole placement agent for the £80 million transaction and worked with Two Rivers Housing to generate interest from investors.

Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the Two Rivers executive team pre-recorded their investment pitch, which was presented remotely. It was then followed up with a detailed question and answer session with a select number of US and UK-based investors.

Prior to the investment Chatham Financial worked with Two Rivers Housing to conduct a detailed analysis of the organisation’s debt portfolio and a review of other service providers including security valuers.

The result not only secured Two Rivers' first ever private placement investment, but also enabled it to refinance its existing debt and raise a new £50m revolving credit agreement.

Carol Dover, Corporate Director of Resources at Two Rivers Housing said: “We are delighted to confirm what is a substantial investment in our organisation. As a significant local ‘placeshaping’ housing association, the funding will help us deliver on our promise to build 1,000 new affordable homes in Gloucestershire and the surrounding area by 2028.

“It will also support regeneration projects and investment in our existing properties as well as the services and support we are able to provide our tenants. “We’d like to thank both Chatham Financial, Santander and our legal advisors, Trowers and Hamlins for their help and support throughout this process.”

Adrian Bell at Chatham Financial added: “It has been a pleasure to work on this financing. Two Rivers has been able to restructure their existing debt portfolio to ensure it meets the requirements of their future investment programme while retaining the relationship with their existing lender and obtaining a very attractive all in cost of debt.”

The investment provides Two Rivers with certainty of funding for its future development programme and demonstrates the strong demand for investors to support the important role that Housing Associations play locally.

Nicky Godding

Nicky Godding is editor of The Business Magazine. Before her journalism career, she worked mainly in public relations moving into writing when she was invited to launch Retail Watch, a publication covering retail and real estate across Europe. After some years of constant travelling, she tucked away her passport and concentrated on business writing, co-founding a successful regional business magazine. She has interviewed some of the UK’s most successful entrepreneurs who have built multi-million-pound businesses and reported on many science and technology firsts. She reports on the region’s thriving business economy from start-ups, family businesses and multi-million-pound corporations, to the professionals that support their growth and the institutions that educate the next generation of business leaders.