Trowers & Hamlins has advised The Guinness Partnership on a £50,000,000 sustainability-linked loan facility with Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation as lender and 'Sustainable Loan Coordinator.
It is The Guinness Partnership's first sustainability-linked loan facility, providing for a reduction in the margin and commitment fee where in any financial year it achieves a certain target score for the number of apprentices employed by the group.
A growing number of housing associations are putting further emphasis on their ESG credentials in order to tap new funding opportunities, including Guinness, which is an early adopter of The Sustainability Reporting Standard for Social Housing (formally launched in November 2020).
Jasna Djurisic, senior associate in the Trowers banking and finance team, said:
"We are so pleased to support The Guinness Partnership again, this time in enabling access to funding by virtue of its commitment to the ESG agenda. We anticipate that many more housing associations will want to take advantage of improved terms by virtue of setting and meeting their own ESG targets and it is great to see Guinness taking the initiative and leading here. ESG is likely to become an embedded feature of all businesses in the coming years."
