Newly merged landlord strikes £100m funding deal with Canadian bank
Newly formed association Bromford Flagship has secured a new £100m revolving credit facility with Canada’s largest bank to boost its development and decarbonisation plans.
The 80,000-home landlord, which was officially formed last week, has agreed the borrowing with the Royal Bank of Canada (RBC).
The five-year revolving credit facility was secured immediately after Bromford and Flagship’s merger was completed, a spokesperson told Inside Housing.
It is the first time that either landlord has agreed funding with RBC.
Matthew Rose, director of treasury at Bromford Flagship, said: “This funding gives us additional capacity to secure sites for our own developments, giving us greater control over the design and quality of the homes we build.”
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The landlord said the funds will also be used to get all of its homes to Energy Performance Certificate Band C or better by 2030, while it aims to be a net zero organisation by 2050.
The new revolving credit facility also allows for sustainability key performance indicators to be agreed “at a later date”, the association said. The interest rate was not disclosed.
Bromford and Flagship previously said as a combined group, it will have the capacity to deliver around 2,000 homes annually for the next 30 years.
Mr Rose added: “Bromford Flagship wants to be the country’s leading developer of social rent homes over the next 30 years and will need to secure funding from new and existing domestic and international lenders to achieve this.”
In its last half year up to the end of September 2024, Bromford reported 457 completions, which was 15 fewer than the same period last year. Of the total, nearly half were for social rent.
The Tewkesbury-based association spent £34m on existing homes, partly to tackle a repairs backlog.
Norwich-based Flagship revealed it completed 162 homes of affordable tenures in its half year, but said at the time that it was “on track” to hand over around 500 by the end of the financial year.
Arshia Hashemi, vice-president – corporate banking at RBC Capital Markets, said the bank is “delighted” to be “supporting the strategic ambitions of the newly combined Bromford Flagship group, as we continue to focus on extending our support across the sector”.
Plans for the merger between 47,000-home Bromford and Flagship were first made public in summer 2024.
In December, Bromford retained its A2 stable rating from Moody’s.
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