About Us
Trustees
Policyholders
Purposeful investments
Investors
New & insight
Pension Insurance Corporation plc ('PIC'), a specialist insurer of defined benefit pension funds, has completed a £100 million debt investment with Apex Housing Association ('Apex'), in its first social housing investment in Northern Ireland ('NI').
The investment will go towards the development of c.1500 new homes as part of Apex’s long-term strategy, with a focus on developing general needs family accommodation, as well as to refinance existing debt. The new homes will be built to very high environmental standards, including additional energy-efficiency measures like solar panels and batteries.
To date, PIC has invested over £2 billion in social housing across the UK. PIC has supported the social housing sector in all four countries of the United Kingdom, making its first investment in the sector in 2012. TradeRisks, part of the Gresham House Group, acted as sole arranger and dealer for the transaction.
Apex currently manages over 7,000 homes in NI and is the third largest housing association in the country, managing 25% of all social housing provision. Apex is regulated by the Department for Communities, part of the NI Assembly.
Key points of the transaction:
Roderick Canning, Finance Director at Apex, said: “We are delighted to have secured this transaction with PIC to support our development programme over the coming years. This investment will continue to support our growth strategy of providing high quality affordable housing to those in need across Northern Ireland. We look forward to strengthening our relationship with PIC and other investors so we may continue to provide cost effective services for our tenants and service users.”
Eugenia Korobova, Debt Origination Manager at PIC said: “We are very pleased to have worked with Apex Housing Association on this transaction, which is our first housing association investment in Northern Ireland. The investment provides an attractive risk profile in an area of high demand for social housing. In addition, the maturity profile is well-suited to our liabilities. The team at Apex impressed us with its expertise, knowledge and strong governance and we are delighted to continue our commitment to supporting social and affordable housing.”
Antoine Pesenti, Head of Capital Markets at TradeRisks, said: “We are pleased to have supported Apex Housing Association on this private placement, which will allow Apex to continue to develop affordable homes across Northern Ireland. The fundraising attracted significant interest from lenders, and we continue to see strong investor appetite for housing associations.”
- ends –
For further information please contact:
Pension Insurance Corporation
Jeremy Apfel
+44 (0)20 7105 2140
ApellaAdvisors
Andrew Brown
+44 (0)7721 513777
Janelle Romano
+44 (0)7792 173071
About Pension Insurance Corporation plc
The purpose of PIC is to pay the pensions of its current and future policyholders. PIC provides secure and stable retirement incomes through leading customer service, comprehensive risk management and excellence in asset and liability management. At half-year 2021, PIC had insured 270,800 pension scheme members and had £47.6 billion in financial investments, accumulated through the provision of tailored pension insurance buyouts and buy-ins to the trustees and sponsors of U.K. 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
