Aviva Investors (AI) has agreed to provide a £75 mln (€83 mln) debt facility to Settle Group, a not-for-profit housing association in the UK, its second in the social housing sector in the past month.
AI made the investment - via a private placement - on behalf of its Aviva UK Life annuity business. It comes after the company entered into a £60 mln (€66.5 mln), 30-year financing deal with south Wales-based Coastal Housing Group, in July.
Settle manages more than 9,000 properties across Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire in south east England.
Spanning 30 years and including deferred funding tranches at 12 and 24 months, the new facility will help Settle in advancing its environmental, social and governance agenda.
The financing will also help the group meet its 2024 goal of at least 1,500 new homes, including a targeted focus on shared ownership to meet the current supply shortage of affordable homes in the region.
Munawer Shafi, head of structured and private debt at Aviva Investors, said: ‘We are very happy to have completed this deal with Settle and further our investment in the UK’s social housing programme, at a time when the provision of such schemes is increasingly important for at-risk income groups across the country.
‘The quasi-sovereign nature of social housing makes it an attractive defensive sector in the current environment, particularly when it comes to proven operators such as Settle, which we expect to deliver strong long-term performance within the overall portfolio.’
