Bromford secures £100m private finance
Housing association Bromford has completed a deal with a number of private North American investors giving it a new £100 million injection of capital investment.
The 44,000-home landlord, with offices in Wolverhampton, Lichfield and Solihull, secured the nine-figure investment after its senior leadership team impressed a number of United States and Canadian investors including two companies completely new to the social housing market.
The £100m private placement has a 20-year maturity.
The initial order book was three-and-a-half times subscribed, highlighting the strong level of interest from investors despite the prevailing uncertain economic climate and unprecedented difficulty recently observed in the UK markets.
The news comes after Bromford, which has its headquarters at Venture Court, Broadlands, and thousands of homes across Birmingham, Wolverhampton, Shropshire and Staffordshire, secured its first ever public bond in April 2018 for £300m after holding a series of investor roadshows in London and Edinburgh.
With Bromford partnering with Merlin Housing Society and merging with Severn Vale Housing in recent months, the additional funding will be used to fund ambitious plans to deliver 14,000 new homes in the Midlands and South West over the next decade – or more than 1,000 every year.
Imran Mubeen, Bromford’s head of treasury, said: “Meeting investors face-to-face was an extremely positive experience and we found them to be really engaged with the Bromford story. Follow-up meetings in Wolverhampton were equally positive and during a site visit to one of our newly-opened retirement living schemes in Worcestershire, investors again commented on the quality of our stock and delivery.
“Interest was so high that we were actually three-and-a-half times subscribed and to secure this level of funding fixed over a 20-year period, especially taking into account Britain’s prolonged economic uncertainty, comes as excellent news and is testament to the strong financial focus we have maintained over a significant period.”
Bromford’s chief financial officer, Lee Gibson, added: “This new funding complements our debut public bond of last year and places us in a fantastic position to realise our growth and development objectives. By broadening our funding base we can continue investing in existing customers as well as building the new homes that future customers want and need.”
In January, Bromford was announced as one of Homes England’s new strategic partners meaning a fresh £66m cash injection to help fund more new homes for social rent, affordable rent and shared ownership across its operating area by March 2024.
