Law firm acts for West Midlands social housing group on £600m corporate finance restructuring

The banking and securitisation teams at law firm Devonshires have advised one of the largest social housing providers in the West Midlands on a £600m restructure of its corporate financing.

The restructure by Wrekin Housing Group involved facilities with lenders Santander, NatWest, Allied Irish Bank, Lloyds and the First Abu Dhabi Bank totalling £350m and a new bond issue totalling £250m (including £50m of retained bonds).

The proceeds of the restructure will support Wrekin’s development programme, including upgrades to existing stock and the development of more than 3,000 new homes across Telford & Wrekin, Shropshire and Staffordshire.

The Devonshires team comprised Julian Barker, Sharon Kirkham, Carolyn Thomas and Alice Overton.

The Wrekin Housing Group has almost 12,000 homes for rent (and low cost home ownership) across Shropshire and Staffordshire.

The group is made up of The Wrekin Housing Trust, Choices Housing Association, The Furniture Scheme, Reviive, Shropshire Housing Alliance and FUSE.