M&G Investments has financed a UK social housing firm with a 35-year loan.

The investment manager provided a £40m (€44.9m) loan to Greenfields Community Housing, which provides shared ownership, leasehold and affordable rented housing in Essex.

Payments of the loan will be split over the next two years.

Greenfields will use the finance to build more homes for rent, shared ownership and sale in the Braintree district of Essex and surrounding area.

Mark Davie, head of social housing at M&G, said: “Long-term financing of this kind will enable Greenfields to meet its development ambitions and provide much-needed affordable housing within the area it serves.” 

An additional £25m will come from the UK’s Affordable Housing Guarantee Programme, half from an Affordable Housing Finance Bond loan and the remaining £12.5m from the European Investment Bank.

Both are low interest, government-backed loans that will be repaid by 2047.