Devonshires acts for social landlord on £540m debt restructuring

The banking team at law firm Devonshires has advised GreenSquare Housing Group on a £540m debt restructuring.

The proceeds of the restructure will support GreenSquare Housing Group’s provision of social housing across Wiltshire, Oxfordshire and Gloucestershire.

GreenSquare’s funding portfolio included its facilities with existing lenders Santander, NatWest, Lloyds and Triodos and new lenders MUFG and Barclays and its private placement funding with its existing investors.

The transaction involved a restructure of c£350m of existing debt, £140m of new revolving credit facilities and £50m of new borrowing from an existing investor.

Devonshires said some of the facilities included unsecured tranches and an ESG sustainable element linked to improvements in thermal efficiency of existing housing stock.

The Devonshires team comprised Julian Barker, Carolyn Thomas and Alice Overton.

Barker said: “We are delighted to have worked with the team at GreenSquare on this complicated restructuring, which has provided a substantial amount of additional liquidity across the Group.”

James Tarrant, Head of Corporate Finance and Treasury at GreenSquare commented: “I would like to thank Julian and the rest of the Devonshires team for their excellent support, dedication and advice on a complex series of interlinked negotiations, made particularly difficult given the current challenging environment.

“The Devonshires team were instrumental in the delivery of this significant funding for the Group and, without their continued support and commitment, this transaction would have been so much harder to achieve.”

Trowers & Hamlins advised on the property charging aspects. Addleshaw Goddard and Clarke Willmott acted for the funders.