GreenSquare secures £75m of new funding
TradeRisks Limited, the corporate finance firm that provides specialist advice to housing associations, local authorities and other providers of social infrastructure, has advised, arranged and placed a £75 million unlisted bond placed with BlackRock Real Assets maturing in 2038 on behalf of GreenSquare Housing.
This debt transaction is secured against existing social housing stock and is a fully amortizing fixed rate note with a 20-year maturity and 15-year average life. The funding was priced in April 2018 at an attractive credit spread following bilateral engagement with a shortlist of investors. GreenSquare will use the proceeds to refinance existing shorter term facilities.
Scott Murray, finance director of GreenSquare commented: "This is another hugely significant step to fund GreenSquare’s strategy to develop and provide more homes and to maintain its financial strength. The BlackRock funding is important because it removes the hurdles that were in place for financing GreenSquare Homes."
TradeRisks acted as the arranger of the transaction. Antoine Pesenti, Managing Director, TradeRisks, noted “This debt has been utilised to refinance a portion of GreenSquare’s existing debt, which was reducing GreenSquare’s ability to achieve its business plan. The new BlackRock debt provides GreenSquare with more flexible funding and reduces refinancing risk. Overall, the refinancing will help GreenSquare seek to deliver its plan successfully both in the short term and the long term.”
The transaction was completed through BlackRock’s European Infrastructure Debt team, which sits under BlackRock Real Assets. GreenSquare is the team’s third investment in the UK social housing sector, bringing its total invested capital in the sector to £250 million across the platform,
Jonathan Stevens, Head of European Infrastructure Debt at BlackRock, said: “We are delighted to have made this investment on behalf of our institutional clients. The transaction provides efficient financing to GreenSquare while providing our clients with access to inherently stable long-term cash flows and seeks to achieve their ESG investment objectives.”
For further information please contact Antoine Pesenti on +44 (0) 20 7382 0906 or antoinepesenti@traderisks.com