TradeRisks Limited placed a £17 million unlisted bond on behalf of Hartlepool Borough Council

TradeRisks Limited, the specialist advisor to housing associations, local authorities and other social infrastructure sponsors, has advised, arranged and placed a £17 million unlisted bond on behalf of Hartlepool Borough Council, a unitary authority in the North East of England.

The bonds, which are fully amortising, fixed rate and with a 40-year maturity, were placed with a single institutional investor following a competitive fund-raising process led by TradeRisks. The bonds priced significantly inside the PWLB certainty rate and included a 12-month deferral.

Hartlepool will use the proceeds to help fund local capital projects.

Antoine Pesenti, Head of Capital Markets at TradeRisks commented: “Since the increase to the PWLB rate in 2019, local authorities have been able to get cheaper funding through the capital markets. This transaction demonstrates it is not only large local authorities that can access these rates – smaller authorities with more modest funding requirements can also access the whole capital markets. With this transaction Hartlepool have secured funding at an attractive rate and structured exactly in line with their funding needs. In addition, the Council will receive the funds with a 12-month deferral removing interest rate risk in the period between the approval of their capital projects and the funding requirement.”

TradeRisks acted as arranger and advisor to Hartlepool with international law firm Trowers & Hamlins acting as legal advisors to the Council.

For more information please contact:

Antoine Pesenti on +44 (0) 20 7382 0906 or a.pesenti@greshamhouse.com

Fergus Wigan on +44 (0) 20 7382 0993 or f.wigan@greshamhouse.com