International law firm Trowers & Hamlins has advised Settle and Paradigm on the £1.55 billion financing as part of the first stage of their merger.
In October 2025, Settle Group became a subsidiary of Paradigm Housing Group Limited, with the combined group operating as SettleParadigm. Paradigm Homes Charitable Housing Association Limited and Settle Group aim to legally combine in the next two years. SettleParadigm will operate primarily across Buckinghamshire, Hertfordshire and Bedfordshire and will become the largest housing association operating in the region, with ownership of almost 27,000 homes.
The Trowers Banking and Finance team, alongside Centrus Advisors, worked closely with the finance and treasury teams at Paradigm and Settle on the funding aspects of the merger including negotiating funder consents, amending and reinstating several existing funding agreements, negotiating new funding agreements and implementing multiple loan-linked and standalone ISDA agreements.
Nicola Ewen, Chief Financial Officer and Deputy CEO at Settle Paradigm said:
"The Trowers team helped to guide us through this first stage of our merger and our mission to become the largest housing association across the region. Forming a new organisation can be complex, but Trowers brought a level of expertise that made the process seamless. From day one our focus is on delivering the benefits set out in our merger business case, delivering more for residents, communities and colleagues."
Natalie Singh, Partner in Banking and Finance, commented:
"We are extremely proud to have supported SettleParadigm on the funding aspects of the merger. Working alongside their finance and treasury teams, we implemented new and renegotiated debt facilities that will allow the group to achieve its aims of improving services for residents and deliver more affordable homes. Through this project, our teams demonstrated strength and in-depth expertise in affordable housing finance but also in managing multiple transactions concurrently delivering to demanding timescales. We look forward to supporting SettleParadigm as a merged organisation."
Lawrence Gill, Director at Centrus Advisors added:
“It was a pleasure to work alongside Natalie Singh and her talented team on this highly complex transaction. By bringing together multidisciplinary expertise and maintaining disciplined project management throughout, we were able to navigate challenging and intricate negotiations and deliver an excellent outcome for our client. We were able to protect significant debt portfolio value and put in place robust treasury risk management solutions, providing SettleParadigm with a strong foundation to achieve its corporate objectives and deliver real benefits for customers. I’m incredibly proud of what we achieved collectively.”
The Trowers Banking and Finance team included Natalie Singh, Jasna Djurisic, Robyn Asbury and Jasmin Rakkar. The Trowers Real Estate Finance Team was led by Hannah Jackson.
