UK modular housing pioneer ilke Homes has raised £100 mln (€116 mln) of equity from new and existing shareholders in a funding round led by Fortress Investment Group.
Ilke Homes said the funding, in which existing investors TDR Capital and Sun Capital also took part, represents the largest-ever raise by a UK modular housebuilder. The round was arranged by investment bank Citigroup.
The firm, which pioneers sustainable solutions to house building, said the capital injection would be ‘transformational’ for its growth plans, enabling it to significantly scale up its operations and open a new manufacturing facility. Once operational, this will increase the company’s output capacity to 4,000 homes a year, creating over 1,000 new jobs in the UK.
The investment will also allow the company to invest heavily in automating more of its manufacturing processes to further drive productivity.
Founded five years ago, ilke Homes has seen revenue grow by over 150% year-on-year and is already working with some of the UK’s biggest developers and investors, including global asset manager Man Group, FTSE 250-listed housebuilder Vistry Group, and housing association Places for People.
The company delivers over 1,000 homes a year and has secured a pipeline of over 4,000 homes, putting it on par with some of the UK’s biggest housebuilders.
In June, ilke Homes launched a partnership with Octopus Energy and Gresham House that is rolling out the UK’s first homes to guarantee residents zero energy bills.
Rahul Ahuja, co-head of European credit at Fortress Investment Group, said: ‘We see ilke Homes as the UK market leader in the manufacturing of modular housing and believe the company is uniquely positioned to increase the availability of high quality affordable housing in the UK while accelerating the transition to net zero.’
Jonathan Mitchell, partner at TDR Capital, an existing investor in ilke Homes, said: ‘The success of ilke Homes’ capital raise in the context of the difficult current funding environment is testament to its innovative business model and dedicated management team. Having achieved triple digit growth across the group for successive years, ilke Homes is strongly positioned and capitalised to deliver in a market with strong long term fundamentals.’
Giles Carter, CEO at ilke Homes, commented: ‘Our latest fundraise demonstrates that the private sector is increasingly recognising the investment case for change. With the race to net-zero well and truly underway, the next few years will be a decisive time in the history of housebuilding, so it’s important that true market disruptors are empowered to play a leading role.’
