VIVID secures new £75m facility agreement with Nationwide Building Society

VIVID has continued using its ESG credentials to attract investment, this time announcing a new £75m Sustainability Linked Facility 10-year term facility from Nationwide. We’re excited to team up with a lender who has been a long running supporter of social housing in the UK.

The ESG metrics embedded in the loan underpin our vision for ‘More Homes, Bright Futures’, sustainability and maintaining the highest standards of governance.

This new facility allows us to continue at pace to improve existing homes and build new energy efficient homes for our customers, at a time when there is an increased need and demand. The loan has KPIs to reinforce our commitment to meeting housing need in a sustainable way. In 2022-23 we built 1,390 new homes making us the sixth largest developer of new homes amongst housing associations in England.

It also sets stretching targets for our tenancy support team who secured £5.8m of additional income for our customers through money and benefits advice in 2022-23 and want to go further during this cost-of-living crisis. Another of the key ESG metrics within this loan is maintaining our G1 rating (governance, risk management and internal control) with the Regulator of Social Housing. This has recently been reconfirmed. This achievement follows an in-depth assessment by the regulator and is the highest governance and financial viability rating that can be awarded.

Duncan Brown, Chief Finance Officer of VIVID said: “We’re pleased to be able to have secured this facility to continue to help us create homes and environments that have our customers at the heart”.

Jonathan Roberts, Group Treasurer of VIVID said: “This loan is the perfect complement to our existing debt portfolio sitting between short-term RCF funding and longer-term bond debt. The facility is tightly priced and reinforces stretching ESG targets for us to deliver sustainable housing. We continue to be pleased with the support from the team at Centrus, the insights and expertise they bring in identifying funding partners capable of providing the flexibility, pricing and breadth of products we need to advance our growth and de-carbonisation journey”. 

Helen Fysh, Partner from Trowers and Hamlins solicitors, said: "We're delighted to have worked with VIVID in raising finance to further support its ambitious development programme, and naturally, for VIVID, those new homes will be built to the highest possible EPC standards.”

Heidi Billington, Director of Property Finance & Public Sector Lending at Nationwide said: “We are delighted to welcome back VIVID as a customer of Nationwide and supporting them through the provision of a new 10-year SLL facility.  We look forward to working with this highly regarded provider of affordable housing and growing the relationship to support VIVID achieve its ambitions in the coming years.”

VIVID was advised by Centrus, Thomas Archer said “We are pleased to have arranged this new ESG linked facility between VIVID and Nationwide which will fund new energy efficient homes and improvements to existing homes. The new funding benefits from a very competitive margin and takes advantage of the inversion between SONIA swap rates and gilt yields to deliver an attractive all-in cost for today’s market.” There are many benefits to having an energy efficient home that go beyond the financial savings, it can support good physical and mental health, whether that’s temperature controls, air quality or mitigating noise levels. These can all impact your well-being and lead to an improved living environment.