£90m loan secured for development of six later living sites

Residential developer Lifestory has secured two development loans totalling £90m to be used over six sites in the UK.

The funding will cover sites in Lichfield, Lymington, West Byfleet, Bath, Cranleigh and Wooburn Green for later living developments, which will range from one to three-bedroom homes. The properties will represent a total GDV of £160m across the 315 homes.

Lifestory was formed in 2019 through the merger of established retirement living housebuilders PegasusLife and Renaissance Retirement with open-market housing specialist Anthology.

This created a business with more than 2,500 homes across 50 developments around the UK, with a value of more than £1.5 billion.

David Clark the CFO at Lifestory said: “With a current lack of suitable housing across the market for all life stages, we’re striving to address this shortage by prioritising the delivery of residential communities across the UK, with a strong focus on later-living homes for those seeking to downsize”.

Cheyne Capital manages around £8bn of assets, of which approximately half are in real estate investments. The funding from the firm was arranged by debt and equity advisory firm Moorhall Capital on behalf of Lifestory.
 
Richard Howe of Cheyne Capital said: “Later living is an asset class in which we have strong conviction and we are confident that Lifestory has a market leading team with the complete set of capabilities to deliver this strategy and manage our investment.

“Moreover, Lifestory is directly aligned with our ESG principles and we value the team’s focus on sustainability as well as their dedication to good corporate citizenship. As this asset class continues to evolve, we will be selectively reviewing new opportunities with a view to investing further capital into this sector.”