Housing provider secures £300m sustainable loan for net zero plans

Insight & comment17.06.224:00 PM by Tim Clark

A South East housing provider has agreed a £300m sustainable private loan facility package.

Picture: Getty

Raven Housing Trust has secured the sustainability-linked funding, which will be used to help the association deliver its plan to build more than 630 homes by 2026, as well as support its net zero carbon commitments.

Raven, which has 7,000 homes across Sussex and Surrey, has refinanced and secured new long-term debt to support its corporate plan of getting all its homes to have a minimum energy performance certificate (EPC) rating of C by 2030 and then to net zero carbon by 2050.

The private placement will help deliver the commitments made by the landlord 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 key performance indicators at a later date.

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 (MVST). This four-year process resulted in a value uplift of £300m and 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 its formation, the association has built more than 1,000 new affordable homes and has a growing development pipeline of new homes.

Mark Baker, director of finance and governance at Raven, said: “We are delighted to have secured such competitive additional funding to continue providing new homes, to meet the affordable housing need in our local area. We look forward to working with new and existing funders in meeting our sustainability ambitions for current and future homes.”