30 September 2016
Sigma, the PRS and urban regeneration specialist, is pleased to announce that it has agreed terms for a major funding agreement with the Homes and Communities Agency (“HCA”), the executive public body sponsored by the Department for Communities and Local Government.
The initial funding is for a £45m revolving credit facility, which will be used by Sigma to materially scale up the delivery of self-funded new rental homes. The Company expects the new facility to support a self-funded portfolio with a total gross development cost in excess of £60m.
The agreement forms part of the HCA and Government’s objective of making more homes available across England. Sigma’s PRS platform, comprising building, letting and funding partners, was a key component in reaching this agreement since it enables the delivery of new homes at scale and at a faster rate than is typical for a market-to-sale build.
Sigma launched its self-funded PRS initiative in December 2015, with this new venture complementing its existing managed PRS activities. So far, the Company has delivered a total approximately 800 new family homes for rent, through its managed or self-funded activities, since construction started in November 2014. A further 1,300 new rental properties are currently at various stages of the construction process.
Graham Barnet, Chief Executive of Sigma, said:
“I am delighted to announce this major new funding agreement with the HCA, which has grown out of our long standing work in regeneration with our local authority partners and the continuing expansion of our PRS platform which is delivering family housing in the UK.
We are very pleased to be joining forces with the HCA to accelerate the number of high quality new build rental homes we can deliver and which will be directly owned by us. This additional resource, alongside our other funding partners, will help to realise our ambitions to deliver PRS housing across all of the key economic regions in the UK.”
