Pension Insurance Corporation has invested £75m (€83m) in debt issued by a UK housing association.
The insurer of defined benefit pension funds said the loan provided to Trident Housing Association will be used to refinance existing long-term debt, allowing Trident to plan further growth and develop more social housing stock.
The debt is secured on a pool of housing assets owned by the Midlands-based housing association.
PIC said the maturity profile of the debt has been tailored to match PIC’s pension liabilities in years where it is difficult to source cashflows in the public bond markets, as well as meet Trident’s borrowing needs.
Simon Hatchman, one of Trident’s board members and chair of the group’s audit and assurance committee, said: “The long-term funding secured is at a fixed rate which comes in well below business plan assumptions, and the transaction has improved our asset efficiency in support of future borrowing capacity. The deal represents a further boost to Trident’s financial resilience.”
John Nixon, interim group finance director at Trident, said: “Whilst these transactions are becoming more mainstream in the social housing sector, this is the first time we at Trident have worked with an institutional investor on a tailored debt issuance.”
Eugenia Korobova, debt origination manager at PIC, said: “This investment provides us with the characteristics we want in our portfolio – low risk, long-term, secure cashflows that are closely matched to our pension liabilities.”
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