Places for People in active talks with investors as for-profit deal accelerates fund manager’s plan

In December, the investment arm was weighing up registering its own for-profit, which Mr Tatham acknowledged would be a  “long road”. However he had said he hoped that being able to use PfP’s policies and management platform, which were already known to the regulator would help it to have “a smooth ride”.

Now, Thriving Investments has acquired a pre-existing for-profit RP, Rosewood Housing, which was previously owned by developer Inland Homes.

With the acquisition in hand, the fund manager is “already in discussion with a number of potential investors” for whom its shared ownership investment and management proposition resonates, it has said.

Rosewood Housing

Developer Inland Homes had appointed administrators on 4 October, a week after notifying markets of its intention to do so, and saw its shares cancelled from trading on the AIM the same day, following a six-month suspension. It appointed administrators to further subsidiaries on 6 October.

Rosewood Housing was purchased from Inland’s administrators, FRP Advisors.

The association had been found non-compliant for governance and viability by the Regulator of Social Housing (RSH) in November after its parent entered into administration.

Although Rosewood did not itself go into administration, the Regulator of Social Housing said at the time that while it continued to trade, it was “reliant upon the continued support of the group and the administrators to do so while a sale of Rosewood is concluded”.

The acquisition sees Rosewood join PfP with “immediate effect”, the association said, bringing with it 61 homes across South East England.

At the time of the 2023 Statistical Data Return, Rosewood had nine affordable rent and 13 shared ownership properties, with a pipeline of a further 11 affordable rent and 29 shared ownership properties in development, due for completion in December 2023 and early 2024.

Places for People said that tenancies would be “unimpacted” by the move. Meanwhile, repairs would continue to be carried out by the current provider, housing association Thrive Homes, before transferring to PfP’s Touchstone property management business “in the future”.

‘Positive discussions’

Commenting on the acquisition, Thriving Investment’s Mr Tatham said the deal would enable it to become an “active market participant in what is a high growth asset class, while also ensuring the long-term future of the Rosewood business”.

He said: “Expanding our product range is key to delivering on our 20,000-home ambition and, with the support of Places for People, we now have the ability to provide more shared ownership homes, while maintaining our track record of connecting patient capital with the right type of asset exposure.

“Shared ownership is a hugely attractive segment for institutional capital, offering both a predictable, long-term income stream and capital appreciation, alongside very powerful social impact. It can be a key cog in what is the dominant socio-economic issue of or time: delivering the right type of housing at scale across the UK.”

Mr Tatham said that the challenge for many institutions had been finding a platform through which to access the sector.  

“We have a high conviction in our genuinely differentiated proposition, with a management platform enabling us to acquire any property in any location, and a highly streamlined investment process enabling us to deploy capital at speed,” he said. 

“Encouragingly, we are already in positive discussions with a number of potential investors, for whom this strategy resonates strongly.” 

Scott Black, chief operating officer at Places for People, said: “We’re delighted to welcome Rosewood customers into Places for People.  

He added: “Thriving Investments’ role in this acquisition not only supports Rosewood’s customers, but also Thriving Investments’ ambition of tackling the UK housing crisis in partnership with institutional investors through providing strong financial returns and positive social impact.  

“With a diversified portfolio that is already providing thriving communities across the UK, we look forward to seeing Thriving Investments grow their portfolio with a new fund building on the Rosewood portfolio of shared ownership homes.”  

In the transaction, Places for People and Thriving Investments were advised by Savills and Trowers & Hamlins, while Inland Homes was advised by CBRE and Devonshires. 

Hear from Places for People’s tax and treasury director Matt Cooper at the Social Housing Finance Conference on 8 May in London on a session entitled ’Striving for collaboration – are we as collaborative as we say we are?’. And attend a focused afternoon session exploring new and effective ways to continue funding development, on our ’finance in practice’ workstream. For more information, click here