London landlord in merger talks with Places for People

Carol Carter, chief executive of Origin, said: “After several months of fruitful discussions, we have a set of outline proposals we believe will be hugely beneficial to Origin’s residents, our local communities, our staff and all other stakeholders.”

Greg Reed, chief executive of Places for People, said he believes that there is a “strong synergy” between the groups and that his organisation would bring “resource, scale and investment” to Origin. 

Origin’s last published accounts, covering the year to the end of March 2022, showed that it fell to a deficit of £21.3m after incurring refinancing costs of £23.6m. On an operating basis, its surplus was £13.1m.

Its latest accounts, covering the year to the end of March 2023, are yet to be published on its website. 

A year ago, ratings agency Fitch affirmed Origin’s issue default rating at A- with a stable outlook, as it said the landlord had experienced a “gradual recovery” from “significant exposure to fire safety costs”.

In 2019, Origin was downgraded to G2 for governance after the regulator said it had provided “consistently inaccurate” data returns. However, the group later regained its G1 status. 

Mr Reed added: “We hope that conversations reach a successful conclusion over the next few months and will update our stakeholders at that point.” 

In 2018 Places for People took on 7,300-home landlord Luminus as a subsidiary a year after the smaller group was handed a G3 non-compliant grade for governance over widespread failings.