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Large housing association agrees merger with small South East landlord
A 36,000-home landlord has agreed a merger with a small South East housing association.
Stonewater, one of the UK’s largest social housing providers, intends to merge with Mount Green Housing Association, which manages around 1,600 properties mainly in Surrey and north Sussex.
The merger would see Mount Green become a subsidiary of the Stonewater Group.
While the partnership has been agreed in principle, talks will now continue to agree more detail, including due diligence, lender consents and resident consultation, with a final decision expected towards the end of the year.
The housing associations said their respective boards believed the merger will combine Mount Green’s local knowledge and understanding of their residents with Stonewater’s large-scale ability to deliver treasury management, development opportunities, digital technology and specialised expert services.
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Both housing associations share ambitions to grow and a commitment to putting customers at the heart of what they do, Mount Green said.
Mount Green was established in 1962. Last year, the Regulator of Social Housing downgraded its governance rating to G2 and maintained its financial viability rating of V2. In its judgement, the RSH described Mount Green’s financial performance as “weak and forecast to remain so in the short term”.
Bill Flood, chief executive at Mount Green, said: “We are very proud of our long history as an independent housing provider in Surrey and more recently north Sussex. Joining the Stonewater Group would offer Mount Green stronger financial security that will enable us to better guarantee our investment plans to make improvements to our existing homes, while building more much-needed affordable homes and make improvements more quickly to the services we offer to our residents.
“We also see a fantastic opportunity to offer more potential choice and opportunities to our existing residents, who would have access to a larger portfolio of homes from a much wider geography and support from Stonewater’s charitable arm, the Longleigh Foundation.”
Nicholas Harris, chief executive at Stonewater, said: “The values and vision of both our organisations are closely aligned, and together, we have the opportunity to combine the advantages of a national organisation with the local knowledge and expertise that Mount Green has built over the past 60 years.
He added: “This partnership offers us the chance to enhance what we do now, and to bolster our future ambitions.”
