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Hightown launches charity retail bond
Hertfordshire-based housing association Hightown has launched a retail charity bond with a 4% fixed interest rate.
The 5,300-home landlord is offering the bonds at a minimum initial subscription of £500, due to mature in October 2027 with a final legal maturity in October 2029.
Interest on the bonds will be payable on 30 April and 31 October each year, with the first coupon payment due in April 2018.
Hightown became one of the first housing associations to raise significant finance from retail charity investors in 2015, securing £27.5m.
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It will again issue the bond through Retail Charity Bonds, a platform created by social investment charity Allia in association with investment bank Canaccord Genuity, which has also previously issued debt on behalf of Golden Lane Housing and Greensleeves Homes Trust.
David Bogle, chief executive of Hightown, said: “This bond offers an ethical investment, a chance for everyone to invest in our mission to deliver much-needed affordable homes for the region.”
At the end of 2016/17, the landlord had an annual turnover of £63m and total fixed assets of £531m.
In May, it secured a 13-year loan of £45m from M&G Investments to help it build 1,200 homes in the next two years.
The bonds will admitted to the London Stock Exchange and the UK Listing Authority’s official list. Investors will be allowed to sell the bonds on the open market.
The offer period is expected to close on 24 October.
