Housing association Longhurst Group has issued a £250m bond to support its plans to deliver 700 affordable homes a year over the next six years.
The bond, of which £100m is in retained funds, was issued through the Libra 2 Treasury and priced at a spread of 148 bps over the benchmark gilt. The bond is repayable after 25 years and was more than two times oversubscribed.
It is the second time that the group, which owns and manages over 22,500 properties across the Midlands and East of England, has used a treasury vehicle to issue a bond. Its first £250m bond was issued in 2012.
Rob Griffiths, deputy chief executive and chief financial officer at Longhurst Group, said: “We’re very pleased with the results from our latest bond issue and the level of interest from investors.
“We will be using the proceeds from the bond issue to fund our forward development programme where we are looking to deliver around 700 much needed new homes each year for affordable rent, low cost home ownership and market sale. This is another significant step in the group’s history. It makes us stronger financially, will help us realise our ambitious growth plans and continue to improve the lives through the provision of more homes.”
Savills Financial Consultants advised the group on both bonds it has issued. Mike Roche, a director at Savills Financial Consultants, added: “There was great investor appetite for this bond, demonstrating the strong support for Longhurst’s plans to continue to grow its business and support its communities.”
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