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L&Q completes acquisition of Trafford Housing Trust
L&Q has completed the acquisition of 9,000-home Trafford Housing Trust (THT).
L&Q, London’s biggest housing association, has now confirmed the completion of the deal after announcing in April that it was in talks over a £4bn plan to acquire the Manchester-based housing association.
THT will now become a standalone subsidiary of L&Q and use its own brand, board and executive management team.
The deal will see Larry Gold become the new permanent chief executive of THT after being made acting chief executive in April, replacing Matthew Gardiner who became L&Q’s head of ideation.
THT is a profit-for-purpose housing association that was established in 2005 following a large stock transfer from Trafford Council. It currently has 18,000 tenants across 9,000 homes.
According to L&Q, the deal will unlock an ambition to build 20,000 new homes in the North West.
It also said the acquisition will allow THT to enhance its ‘Quality Home Standard’ across its homes.
It has confirmed that staffing numbers won’t be affected at THT and there will be no compulsory redundancies.
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The acquisition comes despite L&Q announcing last week that it would put new projects on ‘pause’ due to a market downturn and cost pressures. It came after L&Q’s latest financial statements confirmed a 42% drop in surplus for 2018/19 to £202m, down from £350m, as turnover fell and costs rose.
The terms of the acquisition agreement will enable THT to retain and reinvest any profits made through new home sales into its own schemes and social programmes.
David Montague, chief executive of L&Q, said: “Together, L&Q and Trafford Housing Trust can do so much more to address the need for more affordable housing in the North West and to invest in local communities.”
Mr Gold, chief executive of THT, said: “Trafford Housing Trust has an outstanding reputation as a builder of communities. As a self-managed subsidiary of L&Q, we will be able to build more homes, improve more lives and invest in more communities at a vastly improved scale and pace.
“We will balance the need for new homes in our region with the ongoing requirement and commitment to our customers to provide the best possible social housing.”
