Clydesdale lends £40m on Stonewater social housing

Clydesdale Bank has provided a £40m revolving credit facility to Stonewater housing association to build more affordable homes.

The loan, an extension of an existing Clydesdale loan with Jephson housing which merged with Raglan at the beginning of the year to form Stonewater, will help deliver 7,000 new homes over 10 years.

“Stonewater is already well recognised across the sector for the strength and quality of its portfolio,” said Brendan Brien, senior director with the specialist and acquisition finance team at Clydesdale.

“They have ambitious plans to further increase housing provision across their main areas and we look forward to continuing to support them.”

The latest facility follows several others recently agreed by Clydesdale following its re-entry to the social housing sector in February this year.

The Glasgow-based bank, which is owned by National Australia Bank, extended a £50m facility to BHPA housing association in February and provided £50m to Network Housing in June.

The bank plans to build a £435m loan book in the sector and established a specialist social housing unit led by new chief Elaine Reed at the beginning of the year.

Stonewater has 30,000 homes worth about £1.6bn under management across England with 8,400 homes in the North and East, 13,400 in the South and 8,200 in the West.

“This facility complements our recent capital market fund raising, giving us flexible, committed funding,” said John Bruton, executive director of finance at Stonewater.

Stonewater provides social housing and support services to residents as well as financial assistance and skills training. Its annual turnover is around £160m.