£300m sustainability-linked deal to provide more new homes for Raven Housing Trust

Raven Housing Trust has worked with Savills Financial Consultants and its existing lenders to agree a private placement and loan facility package worth £300 million.

This sustainability-linked funding will be used to help Raven deliver its plan to build more than 630 homes by 2026, as well as support the organisation with its net zero-carbon commitments.

The 7,000-home housing association has refinanced and secured new long-term debt to support its corporate plan of getting all its homes to a minimum of EPC rating C by 2030, and then to net zero-carbon by 2050.

The private placement will help deliver the commitments made by Raven in its Sustainable Finance Framework. These commitments include building more affordable and sustainable homes. In addition, the revolving credit facility includes options to agree sustainability-linked KPIs at a later date.

The funding consists of a £130 million private placement provided by the Pension Insurance Corporation (PIC), £145m restructured and new debt from Lloyds Bank – including a new £50 million revolving credit facility – and a further new £25 million revolving credit facility from Barclays Bank.

The refinancing takes advantage of Raven’s increased balance sheet capacity, following its decision to revalue its homes from Existing Use Value – Social Housing (EUV-SH) to Market Value – Subject to Tenancies (MV-ST). This four-year process resulted in a value uplift of £300m and has allowed Raven to secure competitively priced funding to support its sustainability plans.

Raven was formed in 2002 by the transfer of council homes from Reigate & Banstead Borough Council. Since then, it has developed more than 1,000 new affordable homes and has a growing development pipeline of new homes.