£250M fundraising and A+ credit rating for Karbon Homes

Background

• Karbon Homes is one of the largest housing associations in the North of England, owning and managing nearly 30,000 homes.
• Karbon was planning to build more homes in the North-East, for which it requires up to £250M in long-term funding.
• Karbon had a number of relatively high-cost bank facilities in place, for which it was seeking cheaper, long-term funding.

Our approach

• Chatham worked with Karbon for 12 months to develop a suitable financing solution, including a short-term bank facility.
• For long-term funding, a public bond or private placement were deemed the best solutions, though choosing a particular market was difficult given market volatility.
• Chatham advised on the selection of joint lead managers, who were able to execute in either market to provide flexible decision making.
• Chatham analysed the current market, potential pricing, and flexibility of each option, advising Karbon that a public bond issue would achieve the best outcomes.
• A rating was required to issue a public bond, and Chatham assisted Karbon in achieving an A+ rating, currently the highest credit rating in the North-East.

Benefits

• Karbon was able to achieve longer-term funding than it would have from banks, with a 29-year all-in rate of 3.50% for £150M raised, and £100M retained for future sale, without any corporate covenants.
• Karbon was able to repay some of its more expensive bank facilities, reducing long-term interest costs, allowing Karbon to build more homes.
• Strong debut issue, reflecting substantial investor appetite for Karbon and the North-East.
• This initial issue provides a good foundation for future capital markets investments.