UK privately-owned housebuilder The Hill Group has completed the full refinancing of its group portfolio in the first major sustainability-linked loan (SLL) valued at £220 mln (€258 mln), maturing in 2026.
As the group’s main source of debt funding for the delivery of its private development pipeline, this revolving credit facility was last renewed in December 2017 for £200 mln but has now been increased to £220 mln, with household UK banks; Lloyds Bank, NatWest, HSBC and Santander, each committing to a £55 mln loan. The refinance will support the Group’s five-year plan to double the size of the business to £1.2 bn by 2025.
Tony Parker, finance director at Hill, said: ‘Our sustainability-linked loan refinancing is an important step in our overarching group vision to become a leading sustainable housebuilder in the UK. We are extremely pleased with the confidence that these leading banks have placed in our long-term development plans.’’
The new SLL will fund Hill’s long term development projects including multiple award- winning Knights Park development in Cambridge; Woolwich Leisure Centre, a mixed-used regeneration project comprising 500 new homes and community facilities, and the regeneration of the Teviot Estate in Tower Hamlets, London.
Using the SLL, Hill will benefit from a lower interest cost as their green credentials increase in the future. This is based on four sustainability linked criteria – biodiversity net gain, reducing operational carbon, reducing scope 1&2 carbon and the company’s overall sustainability rating as measured by the NextGeneration scoring system.
