An affordable housing provider set up six years ago is to turbocharge its growth by raising hundreds of millions of pounds that could be generated by a public listing.
Sky News has learnt that Rentplus, which has a pipeline of 1,500 homes, has appointed City advisers to raise approximately £300m.
City sources said on Friday that the capital could be generated by a bond issue, private placement with institutional investors or an initial public offering (IPO) on a London stock exchange.
Numis and Wyvern Partners are working on the plans.
Rentplus was established to help tackle Britain’s perennial housing shortage by building affordable rent-to-buy homes across the country.
It initially targeted a portfolio of 5,000 homes by 2020, an ambition that was subsequently curtailed, but is now seeking substantial sums to deliver its order book.
The company says it has “visibility” on the purchase of more than 20,000 homes in addition to its order book and the 550 units already built or under construction.
Part of its previous funding was provided by the pension scheme of BAE Systems, the UK defence contractor.
Rentplus argues that its business model is unique because it gifts to tenants a 10% deposit when they purchase their home.
The company expects to satisfy the requirements of many funds with an environmental, social and governance mandate because its income is generated by the supply of affordable housing.
It works with housing associations, housebuilders and local authorities, and is among a crop of such companies which have been set up in recent years.
Roughly 1.2m people in the UK are on housing waiting lists, while there is estimated to be a deficit in the supply of affordable homes each year of 55,000 units.
Private sector funding for social housing in the debt and equity markets has benefited from growing demand because of its long-term, high quality, predictable cash generation that is frequently inflation-linked.
This week, Home REIT, which funds the acquisition and creation of properties providing suitable accommodation for homeless people, announced that it had raised £350m from an over-subscribed equity-raise.
Rentplus declined to comment.
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