Leading Midlands housing, care and support organisation, Trident Group, have secured a £75m funding investment with London based, Pension Insurance Corporation (PIC).
The new investment with PIC, an insurer of defined benefit pension funds, will be used to provide the Group with long term secured funding platform for the next 30 years.
With negotiations taking place and being finalised throughout the unprecedented times for the housing, care and support sector with the coronavirus pandemic, the investment in Trident Group shows confidence in the social housing sector and a belief in the Group’s continued investment strategies to support societal needs in the medium to long term.
Trident Group has almost 60 years’ experience of delivering homes, services and innovation for up to 8,000 people in almost 4,000 homes in some of the most disadvantaged communities in the Midlands. It employs more than 750 staff, works with over 150 volunteers and provides training places and apprenticeships for many more. The Group has an annual turnover of more than £36m and owns assets close to £200m.
Interim Group Finance Director, John Nixon, said “Whilst these transactions are becoming more mainstream in the social housing sector, this is the first time we at Trident have worked with an institutional investor on a tailored debt issuance. The end result is an excellent fit for both parties, and it was a pleasure to work with the team at PIC who were straightforward in structuring and implementing the transaction.”
The Chair of Trident Group, Colin Small also added “As a G1/V1 organisation with a proud history this deal will fund our strategy to develop new homes whilst improving reserves and liquidity. We are delighted to work with PIC to help us meet these ambitions.”
Having secured a £185m funding investment in April 2020 for PA Housing, Simon Hatchman, Executive Director of Resources at PA Housing and one of Trident Group’s Board Member and Committee Chair, said “This is a key staging post in our plans for growth. The long term funding secured is at a fixed rate which comes in well below business plan assumptions, and the transaction has improved our asset efficiency in support of future borrowing capacity. The deal represents a further boost to Trident’s financial resilience.”
Savills Financial Consultants (SFC) were the sole advisor to Trident Group throughout the process and liaised directly with the investment company to secure the finance arrangements. Sean Escott, Director of SFC said “this is a significant step forward for Trident Group allowing them move away from a reliance on bank funding and secure long term funding from long term investors on a direct basis. It has allowed legacy loans to be repaid which has released additional security to allow Trident to plan for further growth.”
Eugenia Korobova, Debt Origination Manager at PIC, said: “We are pleased to have worked with the team at Trident Group to secure this investment and were attracted to their strong leadership team and risk management approach. This investment provides us with the characteristics we want in our portfolio – low risk, long-term, secure cashflows that are closely matched to our pension liabilities.”
To read the exclusive on Social Housing Magazine’s website, click HERE.
To read Pension Insurance Corporation’s press release, click HERE.