International law firm Trowers & Hamlins has acted for Cartrefi Conwy on an innovative refinancing transaction, comprising a new private placement, loan facilities with a new banking partner and restatement of existing facilities and which sees in aggregate £39m in new funding obtained.
All bank facilities have been transitioned to SONIA and include margin reductions where Cartrefi Conwy meet a range of Environmental and Social KPIs; a first in Wales. These KPIs are linked to criteria taken from the Sustainability Reporting Standard for Social Housing launched last November 2020.
With just under 4000 homes owned, Cartrefi Conwy is a leading provider of affordable, high quality homes in North Wales with a focus on innovation, both in how services are provided and how homes are built and developed.
This transaction reshapes treasury arrangements to fully support business ambition, unlocking an increased growth programme that will see 1,000 new homes delivered over the next 10 years across North Wales.
Trowers & Hamlins acted for Cartrefi Conwy on all the financing documentation and as part of our work we undertook property due diligence on almost 3000 properties.
Neil Waller, partner in the Banking & Finance team led on the financing documentation, working with Nick Blair, solicitor and Ashley Slatford, paralegal. The property charging work was carried out by Melanie Comer, partner and Rachael Mehta, senior associate.
Andrew Bowden, Chief Executive at Cartrefi Conwy, commented:
“The new finance package allows us to bring our strategy to life is absolutely fantastic news for Cartrefi Conwy. It’s a win for our community because we’re spending our money in Wales and our tenants will also benefit from good quality, well maintained and cheap to run homes.”
Peter Lewis, Group Director of Resources at Cartrefi Conwy:
“For me this is all about delivering more social homes and tackling the climate crisis. That’s very much in keeping with the Cartrefi Conwy ethos. Access to the new funding package is going to propel Cartrefi Conwy to a new level. It’s the key to unlocking 1000 new doors. The skills and knowledge of the Trowers team have been essential in putting this deal in place."
Partner Neil Waller added:
"We are very pleased to have supported Cartrefi Conwy on this ambitious refinancing, which unlocks significant financial capacity, achieves a seamless transition to SONIA and embodies ESG metrics based upon the Sustainability Reporting Standard. It brings to life Cartrefi Conwy's early adoption of the Standard and our work in developing and endorsing it."
Trowers & Hamlins were involved in the development of the Sustainability Reporting Standard for Social Housing that was launched last year and have also recently advised Bromford on two groundbreaking sustainability linked-loan facilities; the first being the adoption of green principles to track and reward performance and then a second loan that has a margin tied to governance related KPI's.
