Kent’s Town & Country signs £30m loan with two banks

Nationwide has signed its largest deal of the year with a housing association – £240m of a £300m loan for Town & Country Housing Group.

Britannia provided the remaining £60m for the Kent-based registered social landlord.

The facility includes the refinancing of a £200m loan and £100m in new money.

Of the £200m being refinanced, Nationwide provided £140m and Britannia supplied £60m. The new £100m comes from Nationwide.

Half of this new money will be made available immediately. The remaining £50m comes with a two-year option, meaning the group can borrow it at any time up to 2007 and no interest is paid on it until it is borrowed.

The building society recently started offering this type of facility to a small number of borrowers.

Steve Goodyear, lending manager at Nationwide, said: “It’s about Town & Country being able to access the fund as and when they need it. They have a two-year option on the additional funds and will not have to pay fees on it up front, though the facility has already been approved.”

Town & Country plans to build 2000 homes across the South-east by 2009. The loan will fund a number of large schemes in Canterbury, Kingston upon Thames and the Thames Gateway growth area.

Town & Country currently manages more than 6000 homes in Kent, Surrey and Sussex.

A Town & Country spokesman said: “We have an ambitious development programme and this funding will play a key part in making sure we deliver those homes.”