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Platform Housing Group plans to issue its maiden own-name bond this year to support its housebuilding targets, Inside Housing can reveal.
The 45,000-home association will look to raise £200m in the debt capital markets to help maintain its status as one of the sector’s biggest developers, according to the group’s chief finance officer.
Rosemary Farrar told Inside Housing: “We are looking to the debt capital markets for longer-term funding at some point this year.
“If you look at the amount of money we are going to need, you can see we are going to be quite active in the capital markets – we want to raise £200m a year.
“This funding will be put towards further development of social housing.”
According to its strategic plan for 2018 to 2023, Platform aims to build 2,000 each year by 2023.
A number of large housing associations have issued bonds at increasingly attractive rates since the coronavirus pandemic hit the financial markets, starting with Optivo’s £250m issue in April.
Since then, social landlords have seen their bond issues significantly oversubscribed, reflecting strong investor interest.
Ms Farrar noted that Platform, which was formed in 2018 following a merger between Waterloo Housing and Fortis Living, had previously accessed capital markets through The Housing Finance Corporation’s funding aggregator Blend.
According to Inside Housing’s Biggest Builders Survey in 2019, Platform was fifth on the list of total completions and was the top English builder for social rent homes.
Ms Farrar, who was appointed in June after a spell as interim chief finance officer, said the housing association plans to maintain its reputation as one of the biggest builders for social rent.
Platform also recently moved to increase its liquidity by selling £100m of short-term debt through the Bank of England’s Covid Corporate Financing Facility.
At the time Ms Farrar said the increased liquidity will allow Platform to continue its “day-to-day operations and build out our extensive development programme”.