A Scottish housing association has agreed an £18m loan as part of a restructuring plan that will reduce its loans from 76 deals to seven.
Edinburgh-based Castle Rock Housing Association took out an extra £4m with Nationwide on top of an original loan worth £14m.

It plans to use the cash to pay back the small loans it took out to fund individual developments.

Castle Rock had 76 loans in 2001; it now has 27. It plans to reduce this to six or seven deals with three lenders, which will be easier to manage.

The Nationwide deal has more favourable security terms than the old deal, under which Castle Rock had to provide security worth 120% of the loan whereas now it only has to supply security equal to the loan’s value.

The change leaves the association with more assets as security, allowing it to borrow more money.

Castle Rock’s finance director, Donald McAndie, said: “We have extended the facility to tide us over until we have a revaluation of the stock and then we will refinance about £4m.”

Source

Housing Today