Supporting Magenta Living with a £77m funding package to invest in new and existing homes

• The client: Magenta Living
• The challenge: Securing and putting in place £77m of funding across four new lender relationships to support new homes, retrofit projects and green initiatives
• The outcome: We supported Magenta in securing four new facilities, supporting its plans to deliver 1,300 new homes by 2030 and invest in its existing homes

Magenta Living secured a £77m funding package to support its plans for new homes, retrofit projects and green initiatives. Anthony Collins advised on four new facilities with four new funders, helping Magenta Living diversify its funding and put in place the finance needed to support its ambitions.

The challenge

Magenta Living has an ambitious objective to deliver 1,300 new homes by 2030, with 85% planned for the Wirral and 15% across the wider Liverpool region. Alongside delivering new homes, it is continuing to invest in retrofitting its existing homes and is pressing ahead with wider green initiatives and green commitments (like a commitment to build a large proportion of its new homes with a minimum EPC rating of ‘A’ or ‘B’).

The solution

To support these plans, Magenta Living sought and subsequently received funding offers totalling more than £300m, demonstrating significant lender appetite, before agreeing in principle to four facilities with organisations from which it had not previously borrowed, culminating in a £77m package.

This gave rise to a complex funding and charging project involving a variety of bespoke funding and security instruments. We advised Magenta Living on the four new facilities which formed this £77m package.

This included (i) a £15m retrofit term loan facility from Barclays, guaranteed by the National Wealth Fund, (ii) a £10m facility from Danske Bank which gave Magenta Living notable flexibility as to how that funding could be drawn (whether as a term loan, RCF or a combination of the two), (iii) a £40m term loan facility from Santander alongside a loan-linked ISDA and (iv) a £12m term loan facility from CAF Bank.

Our work also included advising and supporting on all property charging aspects required to support (as applicable) the aforementioned facilities, which formed a substantial part of the wider transaction and ran alongside the funding work.

Magenta Living needed pragmatic legal support to bring the funding/charging project together within tight timescales, and Anthony Collins duly delivered with four new lender relationships off the ground and four new facilities available to Magenta Living for utilisation.

The impact

The new funding is supporting Magenta Living’s plans to build and acquire new homes while continuing to improve its existing homes through retrofit projects and green initiatives. Its aim is to deliver 1,300 new homes by 2030.

The impact is already beginning to be seen, as following completion of the £40m Santander facility, Magenta Living has now agreed the acquisition of 150 new homes from private developer Northstone.

By broadening Magenta Living’s funder base and putting £77m of new funding in place, we have helped Magenta Living to achieve greater capacity to invest in new and existing homes and to facilitate its continued pursuit of wider environmental ambitions.