Lender inks £30m deal with housing association

Swedish lender Handelsbanken has teamed up with a Glasgow housing association to help finance new-build properties and improvements to city housing, with the £30 million deal marking the lender’s debut in Scotland’s social housing market.

Betty Macneill, Margaret McIntyre and Mandy Wright of SHA with Michael McCuaig of Handelsbanken. Picture: contributed.

Southside Housing Association (SHA) will use the five-year £30m loan facility to support the finance of upgrades to existing properties and the building of more than 260 homes, ranging from one to five bedrooms, in Pollokshields and Cardonald.

The revolving credit facility allows SHA to draw on funds when needed, converting the borrowing into longer-term loans.

SHA, which operates across Glasgow’s southside, has hailed the deal as “ground-breaking”.

Mandy Wright, head of finance at Southside Housing Association, said the loan facility offers a great deal of flexibility.

Michael McCuaig, corporate banking manager at Handelsbanken, said the tie-up “provides us with a fantastic opportunity to invest in Glasgow”.