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CEO announces exit plan as G15 boards approve merger
The board members at two of London’s biggest housing associations have approved proposals to merge and create a new 77,000-home social landlord.
The boards of Optivo and Southern Housing Group have agreed to the plans and have set the target date for the formal completion as early 2023. It has also been confirmed that Southern Housing Group’s chief executive Alan Townshend will leave the landlord when the merger completes.
The landlords revealed in March that they had begun merger talks before being subject to due diligence and successful negotiations.
The new landlord will be named Southern Housing.
Inside Housing spoke to those involved with the merger in April about what was behind the decision and what the new association could look like.
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In a release, the landlords said the merger aims to create an organisation that is big but local and rooted in key communities, with the scale to have a greater impact and focus on delivering excellent resident services.
As the creation of the new organisation has been agreed, Mr Townshend has announced that he will be stepping down following the successful completion of the merger.
He said: “I am proud of getting us to the stage where the agreement to merge has been approved by both boards, however having reached this point the time is right for me to step aside and let others take the reins of the new organisation.”
The two associations announced in July the appointment of a new designate board, with Paul Hackett, chief executive of Optivo, named as leader of the new organisation and Mr Townshend named as deputy chief executive.
Mr Hackett said: “This merger isn’t about growing into a large national organisation; it’s about doing what we do better in the communities we already work in. Residents will be at the heart of our services and we’ll use our size to influence positive change in the areas where we operate.”
Sir Peter Dixon, chair designate of Southern Housing, said: “We believe in these very challenging economic times, we will be more financially resilient by joining forces. This will enable us to continue to develop new homes and meet sustainability commitments.”
The landlords said that further changes to the new executive team at Southern Housing will be announced shortly.
Commenting on Mr Townshend’s exit plan, Mr Hackett said: “I’m very sorry to see Alan go, but understand his reasons for wanting to move on at this stage.
“We’ve shared a vision of what the new organisation should look like from our very first conversation together and his drive, knowledge and leadership will be missed. Alan has a wealth of experience and I’m pleased he’s agreed to remain in post until we merge.”
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