PIC invests £60 million in Phoenix Community Housing

London, 26 April 2018 – Pension Insurance Corporation plc (“PIC”), a specialist insurer of defined benefit pension funds, has completed a £60 million debt investment with Phoenix Community Housing, a not-for-profit resident-led housing association based in south London. The bond will fund the development of over 200 new homes, as well as allowing the refinancing of existing debt and removal of restrictive covenants. The transaction was arranged by Barclays as sole agent.

Key points of the transaction:

• Maturity profile tailored to match PIC’s pension liabilities in years where it is difficult to source cash flows in the public bond markets
• Deferred drawdown, reducing the cost of carry for the borrower
• The debt is secured on housing assets

Phoenix Community Housing is a not-for-profit, resident-led housing association based in south London, which owns and manages more than 6,000 homes in the Lewisham wards of Bellingham, Whitefoot and Downham, and are now starting to build their first new homes. 

Phoenix was named the UK's 7th best landlord for 2017 in a poll by 24housing magazine and has won numerous awards, including the Outstanding Approach to Tenant Involvement category at the 2017 UK Housing Awards.

Chris Starke, Finance Director at Phoenix Community Housing, said: “We are genuinely delighted to have been able to complete this transaction with PIC, an organisation that has a growing reputation within the social housing space for innovation and flexibility in arranging funding. We are committed to delivering much needed new homes and working with our residents to enhance our local community area. The PIC team were proactive in helping us achieve our aims, and flexible in discussions on deferred drawdown. We look forward to working with them as an investment partner.” 

Marno Jooste, Debt Origination Manager at Pension Insurance Corporation, said: “PIC continues to source long-dated, secure cash flows to back our pension liabilities and it has been a pleasure to deal with the team at Phoenix. We are proud to be able to help them develop their social housing stock, whilst at the same time securing the pensions of our policyholders.”

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Notes to Editors:

For further information please contact:

Pension Insurance Corporation

Jeremy Apfel
+44 (0)20 7105 2140
apfel@pensioncorporation.com

Teneo Blue Rubicon 

Anthony Silverman
+44 (0)20 3757 9231
Anthony.Silverman@teneobluerubicon.com

About Pension Insurance Corporation
Pension Insurance Corporation plc (“PIC”) is a leading provider of buy-ins and buyouts to the trustees and sponsors of UK defined benefit pension schemes. At year-end 2017, PIC had insured 151,600 pension fund members and had £25.7 billion in financial investments, accumulated through the provision of tailored pension insurance buyouts and buy-ins to the trustees and sponsors of UK defined benefit pension schemes. Clients include FTSE 100 companies, multinationals and the public sector. PIC is authorised by the Prudential Regulation Authority and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority and Prudential Regulation Authority (FRN 454345). For further information please visit www.pensioncorporation.com

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