Pension Insurance Corporation (PIC) has made a £37.5m (€43m) debt investment in Welsh housing association Wales and West Housing.

The insurer of defined benefit pension funds said the investment will go towards the funding of 2,500 new homes to be built over the next five years.

Housing association Wales and West manages around 12,000 homes in 15 local authorities in Wales.

PIC said the funds are secured on a portfolio of social housing properties based in Wales.

Eugenia Korobova, debt origination manager at PIC, said: “Sourcing long-dated, secure cash flows is important to PIC. The investment backs our long-term pension liabilities, while having the beneficial outcome of putting PIC’s capital to use in parts of the economy where funds are vitally needed.”

The latest deal is PIC’s third investment in the Welsh social housing sector after Pobl and the Welsh Housing Partnership, taking the total amount invested to over £200m.

Stuart Epps, executive director of resources at Wales and West, said: “We are delighted to have secured this funding, which is the latest step towards our ambitious plan to build 2,500 homes in the next five years in support of the Welsh government’s plan for delivering 20,000 new affordable homes during the current term. We were pleased to work with PIC’s experienced team, who were flexible and innovative in their approach.”

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