Savills Investment Management (Savills IM) has acquired a majority share in Simply Affordable Homes from Centrus Financial, a corporate finance advisor to and long-term supporter of the U.K. affordable-housing sector, which will retain a minority interest.
This follows Savills IM’s acquisition of Pitmore, the U.K. development and build-to-rent (BTR) specialist, and creates a strong UK residential platform for Savills IM.
The first new product after the acquisition will be the launch of Savills IM’s U.K. Affordable Housing Fund. The fund is intended to have strong sustainability and impact credentials with a primary focus on increasing the supply of Affordable Housing to meet the substantial need that exists across the United Kingdom. It will target operating with high environmental standards and within the scope of Savills IM’s broader net-zero carbon targets. The fund is intended to have flexibility to invest in shared ownership and affordable and social rent. It seeks to purchase existing stock from Housing Associations, thus allowing them to recycle limited capital and support spending on new home development along with investment in fire safety and decarbonization. In addition, it will look to create new stock through forward funding and purchasing from both private developers and Housing Associations, both through s106 agreements and using grant funding.
The platform aims to help tackle the United Kingdom’s housing crisis through partnership arrangements with Housing Associations and private developers while providing low-risk, index-linked returns with favorable impact outcomes for investors. It is the intention that Simply Affordable Homes Registered Provider (RP) becomes the exemplar for-profit RP investment vehicle for U.K. institutions seeking long-term stable returns in this sector.
Source: https://irei.com/news/savills-im-acquires-majority-share-u-k-affordable-housing-platform-plans-fund-launch/, on 11 October 2022