United House sells its PFI Projects

19/01/2012

United House has today agreed to sell its PFI investment portfolio, which includes stakes in three social housing PFI projects, to John Laing Infrastructure Fund, the FTSE 250 listed international PPP/PFI infrastructure investment company.

The three projects are:

• Camden I Housing PFI Project for the refurbishment and 15-year management of five tower blocks on the Chalcots Estate
• Islington I refurbishment and 30-year management and maintenance contract for 2,348 properties
• Islington II refurbishment and 16-year management and maintenance contract of 4,124 properties.

United House has also signed the £63 million contract with Partners For Improvement in Islington to deliver lifecycle refurbishment works for the Islington I Project over the remaining 21 years of the PFI contract. United House will continue to deliver heating maintenance services to the three PFI projects.

Jeffrey Adams, Group Chief Executive of United House, said: “We have brought these assets to maturity as planned, having delivered the refurbishment of over 7,000 homes on time and to budget. The sale will enable us to invest further in our expansion strategy in London and the South East and allows us to maximise opportunities to partner with local authorities and other housing providers, and to invest in the delivery of low-carbon refurbishment projects, particularly in this exciting new era of self funding for Local Authority Housing.”

Andrew Charlesworth, JLIF Investment Adviser, commenting on today's announcement: "This is a rare opportunity to acquire one of the largest housing portfolios in the UK PFI market. We are an experienced operator of social housing projects, and these three high quality projects, located in the heart of London's prime real estate market, are operationally mature, with minimal retained risk and stable cash flows and match our appetite for low risk, high yielding assets."