Blend transacts £20m deal for Acis six months after sign-up

Details around the spread, all-in price, number of investors and whether this was a private transaction were not available when requested, due to confidentiality.

However, in its deal announcement, THFC said that Blend was able to achieve competitive pricing by “making the most of investors who had uninvested funds that needed to be put to use before the calendar year end”.

The bonds, like all those issued via Blend, are social bonds. The programme was given a second-party opinion report by Vigeo Eiris in 2021.

In August, Moody’s affirmed Blend’s A2 credit rating, with a stable outlook.

Acis manages homes across Lincolnshire, South Yorkshire and Humberside, Nottinghamshire, and Derbyshire, including more than 1,600 student homes in Sheffield and Nottingham.

Adrian Chamberlain, the landlord’s finance director, said: “We were delighted to be working with Blend for the first time to secure this funding. The flexibility provided by the Blend product was important to us in meeting our current funding need.”

Will Stevenson, group treasurer at Blend and THFC, said: “In spite of the continued economic pressures and the increases we’ve seen in global bond yields, this latest transaction for Acis shows there are deals to be done at competitive rates for HAs.”

Priya Nair, chief executive of THFC, said: “Raising the right debt financing at the right time is part of our core business here at Blend and THFC, and we were pleased to secure the finance Acis required at a time when investors were keen to place their funds.

“With bond yields where they are right now, being fleet of foot and able to respond to investor appetite really can make a difference to cost of funds, which ultimately means more financial capacity and greater social impact during a very important period for our borrowers.”

Earlier this month, Social Housing published an in-depth interview with Ms Nair, in which the chief executive outlined her plans to leverage the funding aggregator’s legacy – as well as bringing in lessons from a career in infrastructure investment, to free up sector capacity.