ABERDEEN STANDARD INVESTMENTS SUPPORTS SOCIAL HOUSING WITH £70M NETWORK HOMES DEAL

Aberdeen Standard Investments (ASI) and Network Homes have agreed to a £70 million financing deal. The funding will enable Network Homes to further boost its liquidity and help achieve its social housing goals over the coming years.

Housing associations are typically an attractive asset class for institutional investors given the strong regulatory oversight, backed by real assets with stable cash flows with implied government support and typically counter-cyclical in nature. The affordable housing sector is also attractive to clients from an ESG perspective, given its clear impact on social outcomes whilst delivering financial returns.

The Network Homes funding deal provided:

• £70m long-dated investment – maturing in 2070
• A maturity profile tailored to match the pension liabilities of our strategic partner*, the Phoenix Group
• Network Homes will use the proceeds to help deliver its ambitious development programme of new affordable homes.

Network Homes is a regulated housing association which owns and manages 20,000 homes, operating in 36 local authority areas across London, Hertfordshire and the South East. The association is part of the G15, a group of the largest social housing providers in London that work in partnership with communities, councils, government and developers to create quality, affordable homes.

Fiona Dickinson, Investment Director at ASI said:
“We are delighted to be able to work with Network Homes and help them to provide more, much-needed affordable housing. Our clients continue to seek good quality long term cash flows secured against residential property; this transaction being a good example.”

Peter Benz, Executive Director of Finance at Network Homes, commented:
“Network Homes is very proud to have established long-term relationships with Aberdeen Standard Investments and Phoenix Group who share our strategic vision of delivering new affordable homes in line with our charitable objectives.”

Anup Dholakia, Director of Treasury at Network Homes added:
“We are exceptionally pleased with this innovative transaction, and the engagement with the process demonstrated by Aberdeen Standard Investments and Phoenix Group, under unprecedented operational circumstances. We believe this transaction reflects very positively on the strength of Network Homes’ historic and current performance as well as the aspirational nature of our long-term business plan.”

*The Phoenix Group long standing strategic partnership with Aberdeen Standard Investments as its preferred investment manager.

Ends

Media enquiries

Andrea Ward
Head of Media Relations UK & EMEA
Aberdeen Standard Investments
07876 178696
andrea.ward@aberdeenstandard.com

Notes to editors

• Aberdeen Standard Investments is a global asset manager dedicated to creating long-term value for our clients. With over 1,000 investment professionals, we manage £486.5 billion* of assets worldwide. We have clients in c.80 countries supported by over 40 offices globally. This ensures we are close to our clients and the markets in which we invest. (*as of 31 December 2019)
• We are high-conviction, long-term investors who believe teamwork and collaboration are the key to delivering repeatable, superior investment performance.
• Standard Life Aberdeen plc is headquartered in Scotland. It has around 1.2 million shareholders and is listed on the London Stock Exchange.
• You can access the Aberdeen Standard Investments media centre here: https://www.aberdeenstandard.com/news-and-media

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