International law firm Trowers & Hamlins has advised Adra on a refinancing deal worth £155m with new lenders.
Adra is a leading north Wales supplier of social and affordable housing and was established in 2010 to take on the housing stock from Gwynedd Council. Adra was previously known as Cartrefi Cymunedol Gwynedd (CCG) and is the largest housing association in north Wales. The housing association manages over 6,400 homes.
The refinancing has allowed Adra to refinance its legacy debt, generate additional financial capacity and to cut its interest payments in half. The refinancing will also allow them to grow as an organisation and continue to meet the increasing demand for affordable homes and homes for social rent in North Wales.
Trowers' Banking team advised on all aspects of the financing work and their Real Estate Finance Security Team advised on all related property security aspects of the deal, carrying out due diligence on over 4,000 properties.
The banking team was led by partner Neil Waller with solicitor Jane Kirkham assisting. The property security team was led by partner Melanie Comer, with senior associates Nicola Almond and Joanne Judge and associate Lauren Mason-Smith assisting. The team worked closely with Savills to arrange the property split in a way which maximised the number of units which could be valued more highly using the Market Value Subject to Tenancies (MV-STT) method. This enabled sixty per cent of homes to be valued on this basis, meaning fewer properties were required as security.
Banking and finance partner Neil Waller said:
“We are very pleased to have played our part in achieving this fantastic outcome for Adra, demonstrating once again our commitment to support our Welsh housing clients on large scale refinancing projects.”
Rhys Parry, Director of Finance at Adra said:
“Refinancing has been a game changer for Adra – as well as freeing us from the shackles of our old funding arrangements and significantly reducing our interest payments, it has provided funding for us to build approximately 1,000 additional homes across north Wales. A crucial component of our successful refinancing deal was the support that we received from Trowers & Hamlins – their experienced, knowledgeable and personable team played a fundamental part in helping us achieve a successful outcome.”
Trowers & Hamlins has an impressive track record of acting for Welsh housing associations on significant refinancing transactions, most recently having acted for Newport City Homes on a major refinancing of their treasury portfolio.