BlackRock ploughs £563m into UK resi

BlackRock Real Assets has signed two deals to plough £562.5m into UK residential. The investor has agreed its first retirement living deal, with a £500m joint venture with Audley Group. BlackRock has taken a 75% stake in the joint venture, which aims to develop 1,000 retirement homes in the UK. The joint venture will back a trio of schemes as part of Audley’s Mayfield portfolio, beginning with a 255-home development in Watford (pictured) that is due for completion next summer. It will invest in developments with an end value of £500m. Audley chief executive Nick Sanderson said the deal was “a landmark event, not just for Audley Group but for the whole retirement living sector in the UK”. Thomas Mueller, BlackRock portfolio manager, added: “Retirement living is a sector that we had identified early on as offering strong long-term fundamentals with attractive risk-adjusted returns.” The partnership deal has been led by BlackRock directors James Halstead and Tom Fleming. Rothschild & Co advised Audley and JLL advised BlackRock Real Assets. BlackRock has also provided £362.5m in debt to shared ownership investor Heylo Housing. The funds bring the total committed to £1.1bn, excluding the future investment in the Audley venture. The debt deal supports Heylo’s acquisition of 3,000 homes from its Home Reach platform, which brings together more than 90 housebuilders on more than 250 sites. The finance comprises £262m index-linked and £100m fixed-rate facilities over 25 years. Jonathan Stevens, head of European infrastructure debt at BlackRock, said: “The transaction demonstrates BlackRock’s ability to provide sizeable, flexible debt solutions and our pursuit of investments aligned with clients’ ESG commitments.” Charles Cleal, director for affordable housing at JLL, added: “This is by far the largest shared ownership transaction to date. With a large amount of interest from private capital we expect investment in this asset class to continue to grow.” To send feedback, e-mail emma.rosser@eg.co.uk or tweet @EmmaARosser or @EGPropertyNews Photo © Audley Group