SNG secures £100m revolving credit facility

SNG said the £100m will be used for general corporate purposes, which includes building new affordable homes and continuing its investment in existing homes.

In its accounts for 2023-24, the housing association said it plans to invest a total of £9.2bn over the next 10 years in new and existing homes, with ambitions to improve 15,000 existing homes and to deliver 25,000 new homes within the period.

Winckworth Sherwood served as SNG’s lawyers, while Addleshaw Goddard worked as AIB Group’s lawyers.

Anup Dholakia, director of treasury at SNG, said: “SNG has ambitious plans for the development of 25,000 new homes over the next decade alongside our commitment to our existing customers and communities.

“The new £100m revolving credit facility is important in helping us realise those ambitions, and we are grateful to expertise and insights from Winckworth Sherwood in getting this concluded efficiently and effectively.”

Rosanagh Herries, senior associate at Winckworth Sherwood, said: “This is a significant funding facility for SNG and central to its ambitious development aims.”

In July this year, SNG raised the amount of an existing short-term trade loan it had with Barclays to £50m to support its development plans.

And in January, the group issued a £400m, 33-year sustainability-linked bond to support its development ambitions.

According to its 2023-24 financial results, its first accounts as a combined group, SNG reported that surplus before tax fell to £62.9m. This was a drop from £71.3m for the equivalent entities of Sovereign and Network Homes in the previous financial year.

Hear from Peter Benz, chief financial officer of SNG, at the Social Housing Annual Conference, taking place on 20 November in London. Mr Benz will be speaking at a session entitled Recalibrating the sector: attracting the investment needed to reform the UK housing sector, alongside Melanie Leech, chief executive of the British Property Federation, DJ Dhananjai, chief investment officer for UK real estate investment management at Edmond de Rothschild, and Michael Brooks, director of international public finance at Fitch Ratings. For more information, click here.