Cadwyn completes £67m refinance with first Welsh investment by Westbourne Capital Partners

Cadwyn Housing Association completed its first institutional private placement, finalising a £67m refinance that provides strong financial foundation to support delivery of 500 new homes and tackle homelessness in Cardiff and surrounding regions.

Cadwyn own and manage approximately 2,000 homes and recently celebrated 50 years as a community housing association in the heart of Cardiff.  This funding will see the organisation increase their stock by over 25% in the next five years, helping to achieve their vision of thriving communities through building homes and opportunities.

£41m, of which £15m is deferred over 18 months, has been raised via a single note with a weighted average life of 30 years and a coupon comfortably below 3%.  The note, which was Westbourne’s first such investment in social housing, completes the refinance of Cadwyn’s treasury portfolio which was saw 3 bank lenders refinanced and Barclays restructure legacy facilities into a new £21m RCF and £5m term loan.

The resulting portfolio is simpler to manage, benefits from relaxed covenants and increased borrowing capacity, whilst the WAL has been increased by 13 years, fixed / floating ratios have been increased to c90% and will be held there for the next five years, and the WACC reduced.

This was a complex transaction with a number of departing funders completed during a period of significant economic uncertainty that nonetheless managed to take advantage of a window of stability to access extremely low long-term interest rates to provide a robust longterm financial platform for Cadwyn.

Centrus acted as sole financial advisor to Cadwyn and worked with management to develop strategy and supported implementation including arranging the private placement. Devonshires advised on the legal financing aspects and Clarke Wilmot advised on the property security elements.

“As the new Chief Executive I am delighted to build on the successes of Cadwyn and to continue to provide excellent quality homes and build communities through partnership and innovation.  This funding will take Cadwyn forward into our next phase of development and we thank Centrus for their excellent support.”

Kath Palmer, Chief Executive – Cadwyn

“The new funding structure empowers Cadwyn to invest in new homes from a position of strength whilst creating long term financial resilience. This outcome has been possible because of the hard work and support of Centrus who guided us from strategy through to financial close. I have been continually impressed by Centrus’ skill, expertise, organisation and good humour under pressure. I look forward to continuing to work with them in the future.”

Samantha Daniel, Director of Finance & Resources – Cadwyn

For more information, contact John Tattersall, Senior Director – Centrus

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