OakNorth completes £60m development facility to Affordable Housing & Healthcare Group

By Bridging Loan Directory 24th June 2019

In a clear demonstration of support for the UK’s housing and healthcare sectors, OakNorth has completed a £60m loan to Affordable Housing & Healthcare Group (AHH) to fund the development of three new affordable retirement living schemes in Wiltshire, Dorset and Somerset. The sites have over 400 units between them and will be built with a range of communal facilities and services including: a convenience store, hair salon, treatment rooms, fitness and activity suite, bistro/bar, private lounge and dining and a dedicated lifestyle management team providing care and wellbeing services. New homes are purchased on a government-backed shared ownership basis, reducing the cost of home ownership for last-time buyers.

This new deal represents an alignment of values shared by OakNorth and AHH. Both organisations are committed to ESG which is clearly demonstrated through the delivery of much-needed communities that boost the long-term prosperity of local economies; provide new affordable homes and healthcare facilities; reduce the strain on public health and social services; with the reassurance of AHH’s governance provided from its blue-chip executive team and strategic government partners.

Julian Shaffer, CEO of AHH said:

“We focus on affordable housing and healthcare solutions in sectors where there is a growing need and a shortage of supply. Working in partnership with government we specialise in the delivery and operations of affordable supported retirement communities and premium elderly healthcare infrastructure. With this finance from OakNorth, we’ll be able to have a positive impact on hundreds of people’s lives and bring some much-needed new affordable retirement communities to these counties. Matt and the team at OakNorth took the time to understand our business and have structured a very tailored lending facility that will massively support our growth ambitions going forward.”

Matt Leahy, Director, Debt Finance at OakNorth, said:

“This part of the housing market in the UK is clearly underserved and AHH are delivering a unique proposition that is purely focused around a needs-based model. No developer in this space of the market is delivering high quality schemes that fully cater for the broad residential needs of older people both physically (on site high service provision amenities), socially (creating communities) and financially (shared equity options on purchase). Julian, David and the team have successfully built the Group and its companies over the last 20 years and are ready to propel the business to the next level. This is a complicated peak debt lending facility incorporating several retirement schemes at different stages of their development. We won the lending tender based on the structure we proposed and our clear understanding of their business. We are all delighted to support AHH and look forward to building our relationship with them going forward.”