Scottish housing association secures £70m Private Placement deal with Canada Life to support 700 new homes plans

Clyde Valley Housing Association (CVHA) has secured a £70 million Private Placement deal with Canada Life to support the delivery of 700 new homes across Lanarkshire for social rent.

CVHA has an outstanding track record in working with its partner local authorities and developers, delivering sustainable high quality new homes that meet local housing need. Since setting up in 1996, the Association has grown steadily through new build supply at a rate of around 200 homes per year.

This commitment by Canada Life to provide future investment means that CVHA will own nearly 5,000 homes by 2023.

The Association has been supported in securing this deal by Lloyds Capital Markets (treasury) and Harper Macleod (legal advisors). CVHA’s loan portfolio will continue to be supported by its existing syndicate lenders, Lloyds Banking Group and Barclays Bank, who have been working in partnership with the Association for over 15 years.

The 32-year Private Placement will enable finance to be drawn down in two stages with £35m available in June 2018 and £35m being drawn in Oct 2020.

The Association’s director of finance, Shirley MacDonald, led negotiations.

She said: “The Association has restructured its loan portfolio as part of our Strategy to achieve a mixture of short and long-term funding to meet our development aspirations. I have been delighted to work with Canada Life, who have provided funding for more than 20 years to housing associations, and have a strong understanding of the sector allowing them to provide funding at very attractive rates.”

Allan Murray, Clyde Valley Housing Association chair, said: “We are pleased that Canada Life has chosen to invest in CVHA. This funding will allow us to meet the future needs of people in Lanarkshire who desperately need new rented homes. We continue to rise to Scottish Government’s challenge to support the delivery of 50,000 new homes during the life of this Parliament.

“We are grateful to our existing funding syndicate for supporting the restructured facility allowing us to secure this new deal and to our agents at the Lloyds Capital Markets team who have advised us throughout.

“Shirley MacDonald retires from the Association in May 2018 after 11 years’ service. Shirley’s delivery of the Private Placement marks the end of an outstanding contribution to the success of CVHA over that time and a legacy which lays the foundations for continued growth. We wish her well for the future.”

David Marchant, CIO at Canada Life, said: “We are delighted to enter into a long-term relationship with CVHA through this private placement. We have a long track record working with housing associations providing a variety of funding solutions and we look forward to working with the Association over the term of the private placement.”

Grant Vaughan, director at Lloyds Bank, said: “Obtaining long-term funding at these rates is testament to CVHA’s management team, together with its business strategy and financial strength. Through a competitive process, CVHA was able to secure attractive terms, whilst maintaining the flexibility to deliver its development programme over the coming years.”