South East landlord raises £70m bond to fund development

The 14,500-home landlord said it will use the funding to develop homes for social and affordable rent, as well as for shared ownership.

Eastlight worked with investment manager Venn and treasury advisors Chatham to secure the deal.

David Mullen, executive director of finance at Eastlight, said: “This cost-effective funding, through bonds guaranteed by the UK government, will enable us to keep up our momentum and get on with delivering more than 300 social and affordable homes per year across the East of England.”

Eastlight was formed in 2020 after Colne Housing and Greenfields Community Housing agreed a merger.

The following year, it struck a £120m funding deal with four unnamed North American investors, which it said would help it deliver 3,800 new homes over the next five years.

Last year, Inside Housing spoke to Eastlight about its community engagement scheme, which began in June 2022.

For one year, the landlord paid 20 Essex residents – nine of whom were Eastlight tenants – a full-time salary and helped them to design and launch their own community projects to tackle social issues in the county.

In April, Eastlight appointed James Lomas to the newly created role of head of finance. At the time, the landlord said Mr Lomas would have a remit of improving the organisation’s financial viability and delivering more value for money for residents.