South East landlord secures £50m revolving credit facility

Maria Organ, executive director of finance at West Kent, said: “We are aware of the current unpredictable markets and the pressures upon the sector post the general election.

“This agreement with Nationwide means we are financially stronger as a result, which will support our investment and growth plans for the years ahead.”

Last August, West Kent agreed a deal for a £50m flexible loan facility from The Housing Finance Corporation to invest in its existing stock and to develop more affordable homes in the region over the coming years.

The landlord is graded G1/V2 by the Regulator of Social Housing (RSH) after it was among 13 providers that had their viability grades downgraded to V2 in December 2022.

At the time, the RSH said that West Kent is increasing planned investment in its existing homes and in its IT systems.

The regulator said that these additional costs, combined with higher inflation and interest rate pressures, weaken the provider’s interest cover position and its capacity to manage adverse events.

On the new RCF, West Kent received financial advice from Savills Financial Consultants. Anthony Collins Solicitors supported the provider with the treasury documentation and Capsticks helped with the security charging, while Pinsent Masons acted on Nationwide’s behalf.

Update: at 13.00pm, 13.08.24, and 5.41pm, 14.08.24

This story was updated to add the information that the loan is ‘sustainability- ready’, with the KPIs to be agreed and added at a later stage, at which point the facility will become sustainability-linked, and then to remove ’sustainability linked’ from the headline and standfirst.