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Large housing associations begin three-way merger talks to create 60,000-home landlord
Three large housing associations have begun merger talks to create a new 60,000-home landlord.
BPHA, Futures Housing Group (FHG) and Flagship Group have begun discussions to create the new landlord which would operate across the East and Central England and become the largest provider in that area.
The organisations have said the talks are exploratory so far and would be subject to each housing association’s board.
The landlords have said the merger could boost social housing provision and services in the region.
Flagship is the largest partner of the three, owning and managing 32,000 homes mainly in the East of England. The Norwich-headquartered landlord has been on a merger spree of late, with it bringing in 3,000-home Suffolk Housing Society under its brand in January 2020.
This came after Flagship merged with 5,000-home landlord Victory Housing in January 2019.
In its last in-depth assessment, the East Anglian association secured the top G1/V1 ratings for governance and financial viability from the Regulator of Social Housing.
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Bedford-based BPHA owns and manages more than 19,500 homes, with its stock mainly situated in the arc around Cambridge, Oxford and Bedfordshire.
Last October, the association announced that its chief executive of eight years, Kevin Bolt, will be stepping down in May.
The landlord currently has a G1 rating for governance but a V2 rating for financial viability, which is the second highest grade from the English regulator.
FHG owns and manages more than 10,000 homes from Derbyshire in the East Midlands down to Daventry. It currently has plans to spend £190m on the construction of new homes by 2024.
It is also G1/V1 rating for governance and financial viability from the regulator.
FHG was formed in 2007 from a merger between Amber Valley Housing and Daventry & District Housing.
The three housing associations are the latest to consider a large-scale merger.
Last week, Catalyst and Peabody completed a merger deal that would create a new 104,000-home landlord.
Optivo and Southern are also currently in talks over a partnership that will create a 77,000-home landlord.
A joint statement from the chairs of the three organisations, Paul Leinster (BPHA), Peter Hawes (Flagship) and Mike Stevenson (Futures), said: “In these early stages of talks it is clear we have much in common, including geographic synergy, shared priorities to enhance customer service and the provision of more homes.
“All three organisations have strong credit ratings – BPHA (A+, S&P), Flagship (A2, Moody’s) and Futures (A+, S&P) – which provides a firm financial foundation for a partnership.”
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