You are viewing 1 of your 1 free articles
Bolton at Home completes takeover of Greater Manchester neighbour
Housing association Bolton at Home has acquired fellow Greater Manchester provider Arcon Housing Group as it seeks to build more homes in the region.
Arcon will join Bolton at Home as a subsidiary from April after the move was officially signed off by both boards. Tenants were also consulted.
The two organisations said they expected the new partnership to deliver 1,400 new homes by 2023.
Bolton at Home manages more than 18,000 homes across the area. It was originally an ALMO, wholly owned by Bolton Council, but in 2011 the group acquired its housing stock from the council and launched as a housing association.
Although Arcon is a much smaller company, with only around 1,200 homes, its properties are more geographically spread, giving Bolton at Home new areas in which to develop.
Jon Lord, group chief executive of Bolton at Home, said: “We’d already been working closely with Arcon as part of the Greater Manchester Housing Providers group. It has knowledge and skills that complement our own, including a wealth of development expertise.
“This will be invaluable to our joint ambitions to build the affordable homes the region so urgently needs.”
The Greater Manchester Spatial Framework indicates that a minimum of 201,000 new homes are needed across the region by 2037 to meet existing and rising demand, with 50,000 of these being affordable.
Bernard Gallagher, chief executive of Arcon, said: “Together we can introduce these new homes quicker than we would be able to individually. It’s a partnership that will bring many mutual benefits to our customers.”
Inside Housing defines acquisitions as deals in which an organisation joins a larger group as a subsidiary. These are distinct from mergers, in which an entirely new company with a new board is created.
