Investment

With increasing interest in direct private funding for affordable housing alongside more established forms of financing, our dedicated team can assist new and prospective market entrants as well as more established institutions to invest in the affordable housing market.

Equally with our leading profile in the affordable housing sector we are well placed to advise affordable housing providers on their take up and receipt of innovative finance products.

Our team specialises in facilitating direct investment by the private sector into affordable housing.  This complements our firm's experience in advising on investments in affordable housing through the bond market and private placements.

We act for clients purchasing freehold and long-leasehold interests in affordable housing portfolios.  These assets are then managed by housing associations or local authorities on a day-to-day basis, whilst the investor receives an index-linked return.  Our top-rated work for housing associations and local authorities in relation to affordable housing allows us to provide our clients with valuable market awareness.

Our interdisciplinary experience has seen us act for a number of clients in market-leading transactions.  For example, we advised Civitas on its programme of acquisitions following their creation of the first ever social housing Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) which raised £350m on the London Stock Exchange.

In addition, we assist investors in establishing for-profit HAs and acquiring affordable housing and retirement living portfolios.  We are a leader in this field, having advised ReSI Housing Limited on potential acquisitions after it became the first Registered Provider of Social Housing (RP) to be registered by a publicly listed investment fund.

We aim to provide an end-to-end service for our clients.  Our team assists prospective market entrants in finding potential partners as well as advising more established investors, whilst our specialist work is complemented by experienced colleagues advising on funding, charging, tax, construction, corporate and employment matters.

Our work in acting for investors is complemented by our work acting for housing associations in transacting with investors.  With our established expertise and understanding of affordable housing finance, charitable vires and tax requirements we are ideally placed to maximise the efficiency and outputs of such a transaction for both parties.

In brief

• Dedicated and growing team
• Work with new market entrants and established investors
• Experienced in advising direct investors and for-profit housing associations
• Experts supported by specialists across the firm
• Long track record in understanding affordable housing provider financing and their operating environment