The Pension Insurance Corporation has completed a debt investment totalling £37.5m in Welsh housing association Wales and West Housing.
The investment will go towards the funding of 2,500 new homes to be built over the next five years. The company, a specialist insurer of defined benefit pension funds, has now made three investments in the Welsh social housing sector after Pobl and the Welsh Housing Partnership (WHP), taking the total amount invested to over £200m.
Headquartered in Cardiff, Wales and West manages around 12,000 homes in 15 local authorities in Wales. These include more than 3,000 dedicated properties for older people as well as innovative supported housing solutions for people with a range of particular needs.
Key points of the transaction:
- £37.5m funding split into three tranches with drawdowns in 2021 and 2022, with the entire amount maturing in 2060
- Maturity profile has been tailored to match PIC’s pension liabilities in years where it is difficult to source cashflows in the public bond markets
- The funds are secured on a portfolio of social housing properties based in Wales
Eugenia Korobova, debt origination manager at PIC, said: “We are very happy to have invested in Wales and West, a dynamic social housing provider. Sourcing long-dated, secure cash flows is important to PIC. The investment backs our long-term pension liabilities, while having the beneficial outcome of putting PIC’s capital to use in parts of the economy where funds are vitally needed.”
Stuart Epps, executive director of resources at Wales and West, said: “We are delighted to have secured this funding, which is the latest step towards our ambitious plan to build 2,500 homes in the next five years in support of the Welsh Government’s plan for delivering 20,000 new affordable homes during the current term. We were pleased to work with PIC’s experienced team, who were flexible and innovative in their approach.”
