Large national landlord agrees £254m funding packing with sustainability targets

ABN AMRO has been particularly active in this area of late, with deals for Clarion, Platform, Bromford, Vivid and Orbit in the past year. 

Stonewater’s new RCFs have term lengths between five and 10 years. 

Anne Costain, chief financial officer at Stonewater, said that the RCFs will allow the group to “plan and construct new affordable home developments, as well as enhance existing ones”.

The group has an “ambition” to build 1,500 homes a year, according to its 2022 to 2030 strategic plan. In its last reported full year, Stonewater completed 963 homes.

Overall, the landlord wants to have 50,000 homes by the end of this decade. 

It has also been growing through merger activity in the past two years. In February, it completed a takeover of 1,600-home housing association Mount Green, which has become a subsidiary of the group. 

In late 2022, Stonewater also took on small Surrey-based landlord Greenoak as a subsidiary. 

Last November, ratings agency Standard & Poor’s (S&P) reaffirmed its A credit rating and ‘negative’ outlook on Stonewater. 

However, S&P said that the landlord’s “increasing investments in its existing assets and high inflation are putting pressure on its financial performance and delaying the improvement we previously anticipated”. 

Stonewater has a G1/V1 rating with the English regulator. 

Savills Financial Consultants and law firm Devonshires advised Stonewater on the latest funding package.