Japanese bank announces £75m association deal

Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group?s (MUFG) banking arm today announced the completion of its first deal with Anchor.

The landlord took on a ?265m seven-year revolving credit facility arranged by the giant Japanese bank, with ?75m of the finance coming directly from MUFG.

The bank has established a ?social housing offering? that consists of five to 10-year loans, available to social housing providers in the UK.

MUFG is the latest large international bank to announce a move into the affordable housing sector ? following Danske, Handelsbanken and HSBC last year.

Robert Bartlett, executive director, infrastructure at MUFG, said: ?MUFG has had connections with the UK since the 1800s and has a long history of funding other UK social infrastructure projects such as schools, hospitals, prisons and other government buildings, in addition to roads, telecoms and transport such as airports and railways.?

?Moving into the social housing sector is a logical progression and matches our own ethos of corporate social responsibility, both in our lending policies and in our commitment to contributing to the communities in which we operate.?

Jane Ashcroft, chief executive of Anchor, added: ?Our business plan sets out ambitious targets to deliver happy living to many more older people and this facility is enabling us to achieve that.?

Anchor announced two major acquisitions last month.

It purchased 24 care homes from for-profit company LNT Group in a deal worth more than ?100m. It also purchased Cavendish Healthcare Group, which operates five care homes, for an undisclosed sum.