AmicusHorizon and Viridian complete merger

It intends to raise £1.5bn of new finance to support its growth programme.

Paul Hackett, chief executive of Optivo, said: ‘Today marks the beginning of Optivo and the start of an exciting new journey. We’re now ‘one team’ and will be able to build more new homes than we could have done as separate organisations.

‘Optivo will respond positively to the challenges of the housing crisis while looking to deliver sector-leading services. We look forward to working with our partners to meet housing need and creating safe, sustainable communities for our residents.

‘Residents will remain at the heart of everything we do - this will set us apart and drive success, and is why other organisations will want to work together with us.’

Nick Apetroaie, deputy chief executive of Optivo, said: ‘At Optivo we want to meet housing need at all levels, from low income households to aspiring professionals. But we’re also passionate about increasing people’s life opportunities and showing we care about their futures.

‘We’ll do all we can to help them flourish by providing access to education and employment support, along with supporting their health and wellbeing.”

It was announced in December 2016 that Sir Peter Dixon will chair Optivo.