Extra-care providers abandon plans for 26,000-home merger

A joint statement from the groups’ chief executives, Bruce Moore (Housing 21) and Mick Laverty (ECCT), said: “Following detailed discussions, Housing 21 and The ExtraCare Charitable Trust have agreed that the two organisations can best serve their residents by remaining as separate entities and are therefore no longer intending to merge. 

“Housing 21 and The ExtraCare Charitable Trust will each continue to develop and operate their own distinct models and services to enable older people to live better lives.”

The news came just over a week after Standard & Poor’s (S&P) placed Housing 21 on its CreditWatch list with “negative implications” over the merger. The agency said ECCT’s operating model was riskier than Housing 21’s, which could weaken the larger group’s debt and liquidity position.

ECCT saw its surplus drop a third to £15.9m in its last reported full year, despite a rise in revenue. 

In its last reported full year to March 2022, Housing 21 posted a group deficit of £8.9m as it booked £20.8m in finance costs. Turnover rose 11.5% to £224.4m.

In a new report last week, Moody’s also warned about the credit risks that mergers can present in the current economic climate.