Top 40 law firm Trowers & Hamlins has advised VIVID, Hampshire's largest provider of affordable homes, on a large scale financial restructure.
The project included the restructure of its syndicated facilities and a new £80m Revolving Credit Facility (RCF) with Barclays Bank plc to fund its development programme that aims to deliver 17,000 homes over the next 10 years across Hampshire, Surrey, Berkshire and West Sussex.
The multidisciplinary team from Trowers successfully led the financial restructure of VIVID, formed following the merger of Sentinel Housing and First Wessex in April 2017.
The Real Estate Finance Security team dealt with the release and recharge of charges on 915 units, followed by a condition subsequent full due diligence charging exercise on this portfolio plus 287 additional units. This included producing top up letters and providing numerous conditions precedent within a short timeframe. The properties forming the transaction are all ex-LSVT units and therefore the exercise will help VIVID realise additional value in these properties as a result of the changes to the law in respect of S133 restrictions on disposals
Duncan Brown, VIVID's Director of Finance and Technology, said:
"As our development programme continues to grow we’re using more RCFs to make our funding more flexible. And we’re looking to work with lenders who understand our business and can provide facilities that meet our needs.”
Trowers' Senior Associate, Helen Fysh said:
"Trowers is delighted to continue to support VIVID's initiative to help the provision of affordable houses."
The Trowers team brought together its expertise in banking and real estate finance. The banking team was Anna Clark, Helen Fysh, Jasna Djurisic, and Andrew Mitchell. The real estate finance team comprised of Katie Dyer, Caroline Nugent, and Forhad Ahmed.
