International law firm Trowers & Hamlins has advised housing association GreenSquareAccord Limited on a £400m sustainability bond and also uplifted the security value of its portfolio by £420m.
The proceeds from the issue of the bond will be used for sustainable purposes in accordance with GreenSquareAccord’s Sustainable Finance Framework. £100m of the bond has been retained for future use.
The certificate of title was agreed within 7 weeks of instruction. This was in part possible thanks to the rolling charge and value uplift programme that Trowers has been undertaking for GreenSquareAccord.
As part of this programme, Trowers uplifted the security value of GSA's stock by £420m. This was done by varying s.106 agreements, varying other development documentation and by uplifting the value of stock acquired from local authorities. These uplifts mean that GreenSquareAccord has been able to achieve MV-STT for at least 97% of all rented homes charged which do not comprise supported or sheltered housing.
The Property work was undertaken by Forhad Ahmed, supervised by Katie Dyer, Partner and Sarah Darvell, Managing Associate and with assistance from Ezi Omoduemuke and Ayesha Zafar.
Director of Corporate Finance & Treasury at GreenSquareAccord James Tarrant said:
"It has been a real pleasure working with Trowers on this transaction and a fantastic result to have the security ready well ahead of the transaction. All the support and the speed of work from the team has been outstanding. Trowers increasing the value of our stock by over £420m has also been a real help to us, enabling us to significantly increase the size of the bond."
Real Estate Finance Security Team Associate Forhad Ahmed said:
"We are delighted to have helped GreenSquareAccord issue a £400m bond linked to their Sustainable Finance Framework. We are also pleased to have increased the security value of their stock by over £420m. The scale of the value uplift achieved shows just how effectively housing associations can increase property values in an economic downturn by undertaking a rolling charge and value uplift programme."
