Great Places hails £200m bond success
SOCIAL landlord Great Places Housing Group has raised £200m in its first foray into the bond market.
The bond raised £200m of which £150m has been drawn down immediately and the remaining £50m over the next two years.
The Manchester organisation will pay investors a return of 4.81% – the third most competitive arrangement for a housing association out of around 20 bonds issued recently.
Great Places manages more than 16,000 homes and the money raised will be used to fund its development programme.
Chief executive Stephen Porter, deputy chief executive Matthew Harrison and finance director Phil Elvy met more than 20 sets of investors during an intensive three day roadshow presentation which took place in Manchester, Edinburgh and London This led to the issue being versubscribed.
Chief executive Stephen Porter said: “This is fantastic news and demonstrates the financial strength of our business and our excellent reputation. It will allow us to continue to build much needed homes and I am delighted by the response of investors.”
The deal was jointly arranged by RBC Capital Markets, The Royal Bank of Scotland and Santander GBM.
Earlier this year Great Places received £40m from the Homes and Communities Agency towards building 1,750 new homes.
