PCHA, a subsidiary of Genesis Housing Group, secured a restructuring of its £55 million facilities from Bank of Scotland Corporate. PCHA owns and manages over 10,000 homes across North London and Hertfordshire.
Bank of Scotland Corporate is providing total funding of £55 million with a maturity of 16 years. This represents a total increase of £46 million on PCHA's existing facilities and has enabled PCHA to acquire a mixed tenure development site in Larden Road, Hammersmith. This will provide 375 affordable housing units with 124 for sale and some commercial units.
Vale HA secured a restructuring of its £150 million facilities from a banking syndicate led by Bank of Scotland Corporate. The LSVT Association currently owns over 5,000 homes across Oxfordshire. Bank of Scotland Corporate is leading the syndicate, which includes Barclays and Abbey. Each member of the syndicate has provided a £10 million increase in the facility with Bank of Scotland Corporate providing the largest sum of £65 million.
This represents a total increase of £30 million on Vale's existing facilities and will strengthen the housing group's ongoing development programme. The facilities are being provided as a 30-year long-term loan facility with a 10-year interest only period followed by 20-years amortisation. Refinancing of existing facility terms includes a change to corporate style covenants.
A ruling by Inland Revenue went a long way in clarifying an ambiguous situation for ALMOs. It means that profits made by an ALMO as a result of work with its parent local authority will no longer be taxable. Previously, some local tax offices had allowed ALMOs to be exempt from Corporation Tax on such profits, whilst others had not. The actual nature of an ALMO's contract with a local authority, however, may still be a factor that determines whether tax is paid or not.
Barclays were reported to have created a dedicated Scottish team to challenge banks north of the border. It is understood that the bank has allocated £300 million to fund new social housing in Scotland.
The Head of the Decent Homes division at the ODPM, Anne Kirkham, confirmed that future PFI funding would look favourably on schemes that link housing and health needs. She also advised that the ODPM will issue a PFI newsletter to provide a clear indication of when and where schemes are coming forward.
The Association of British Insurers confirmed its members would provide flood insurance to residents of homes in high-risk areas that will benefit from improvements to flood defences over the next five years. Previously, there was only a commitment to areas that were due to have flood defences upgraded by 2007.