Peabody to acquire Catalyst
Housing associations Peabody and Catalyst have unveiled plans to combine their businesses.
The pair are exploring plans that would see Catalyst become a subsidiary of Peabody next spring.
The merger would create a new organisation of more than 100,000 homes, led by Catalyst chief executive Ian McDermott (pictured). McDermott will also take over as the interim chief executive of Peabody when Brendan Sarsfield leaves in September.
Housing associations Peabody and Catalyst have unveiled plans to combine their businesses.
The pair are exploring plans that would see Catalyst become a subsidiary of Peabody next spring.
The merger would create a new organisation of more than 100,000 homes, led by Catalyst chief executive Ian McDermott (pictured). McDermott will also take over as the interim chief executive of Peabody when Brendan Sarsfield leaves in September.
The proposals would see Peabody chair Lord Kerslake become designate chair of the new company, with Ravi Rajagapol as vice chair.
Peabody has more than 67,000 homes, with major regenerations planned at Dagenham Docks, Holloway Prison and Thamesmead.
In results for the year ended 31 March 2021, Peabody reported a surplus of £110m, against £630m turnover. During the year the housing association invested £304m into new homes and it has a development pipeline of £1.4bn.
Catalyst Housing has around 37,000 homes across London and the South East. McDermott joined Catalyst at the start of 2019 from Aldwyck Housing Group, with which Catalyst subsequently merged. At the time Aldwyck had a portfolio of 11,000 homes. Before joining Aldwyck in 2016, he was chief operating officer at Sanctuary Group for five years.
Peabody and Catalyst will launch resident consultations this summer and the boards will decide on proposals this autumn.
McDermott said: “We believe that we can go further and faster together. With our shared aspirations and geographical reach, we can create an organisation which has customers at the front and centre of its thinking and planning. We will have a stronger local focus and be more connected with our communities. We can combine this with the benefits of scale and the ability created by the larger organisation.”
Kerslake added: “I believe that this scale, combined with our local knowledge, will enable us to provide valuable insight from our residents’ experiences to help better inform policy and have a positive impact on life chances.
“We will look forward to working with government and partners to develop innovative solutions that improve services to customers, enhance building safety and reduce carbon consumption.”
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