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London, 11 August 2022: Foresight Group LLP (“Foresight”), a leading listed infrastructure and private equity investment manager, has provided a senior debt facility of up to £75 million to Impact Lending (the “Company”), a specialist property lender that provides senior and mezzanine bridging and development loans up to £10 million, primarily to UK SME residential property developers.

Founded in 2019, by property entrepreneur Robert Whitton and finance professional David Travers, Impact Lending is part of Impact Capital Group, which specialises in real estate, development finance, strategic land purchases, sustainable construction through modular manufacturing and flexible, smart office services.

Foresight has worked with Impact Lending to structure a debt facility to fund the growth of the Company’s lending strategy. This will help to address two key market issues: the UK’s systemic housing shortage and environmental sustainability through the supply of Green Loans to help fund sustainable development.

Many SME developers are experiencing difficulties in accessing funding from mainstream lenders and housing development is falling short of the 300,000 new properties required each year. This has resulted in an opportunity for the £4 billion Bridging Finance industry to provide smart lending solutions, with forecasts from the Ministry of Housing estimating that market trends will lead to a £200 billion funding gap over the next decade.

Progress on sustainability will also be encouraged through the provision of cheaper loan products if projects meet certain sustainability criteria, based on the Loan Market Association’s Green Loan Principles, which focus on improving building energy efficiency, clean transportation infrastructure, recycling or waste initiatives. This is in line with the Government’s Green Recovery initiative.

Oliver Bates, Senior Private Debt Manager at Foresight, said: “We are pleased to be partnering with Impact Lending, which sets out to solve two major issues at play in the current market. Alongside the highly experienced team at Impact Lending, we look forward to playing a role in addressing the UK’s housing crisis, made more pressing than ever in a post-COVID environment, as well as supporting the Government’s Green Recovery initiative through Green Loans.”

 

Robert Whitton, Founder and Group Chief Executive Office at Impact Capital Group, commented: “Green Loans are a new concept in the finance spectrum, especially within the SME space. With our new funding line of up to £75 million, our intention is to push our sustainable loans range forward with a view to seeing our green products overtake our traditional loans range in the very near future. This forms part of our long-term mission to help address the great emergencies of our time and we are pleased to see the market is really gaining traction in this direction. Our collaboration with the team at Foresight is a testament to our ESG commitments and we are excited about the next steps.”

 

ENDS

For more information contact:

Will Easton: foresight@citigatedewerogerson.com / +44 (0) 7786 420 017

Lucy Sherwood: marketing@foresightgroup.eu / +44 (0) 7774 432466

About Foresight Group LLP (Foresight):

Foresight Group was founded in 1984 and is a leading listed infrastructure and private equity investment manager. With a long-established focus on ESG and sustainability-led strategies, it aims to provide attractive returns to its institutional and private investors from hard-to-access private markets. Foresight manages over 330 infrastructure assets with a focus on solar and onshore wind assets, bioenergy and waste, as well as renewable energy enabling projects, energy efficiency management solutions, social and core infrastructure projects and sustainable forestry assets. Its private equity team manages ten regionally focused investment funds across the UK and an SME impact fund supporting Irish SMEs. This team reviews over 2,500 business plans each year and currently supports more than 200 investments in SMEs. Foresight Capital Management manages four strategies across six investment vehicles with an AUM of over £1.6 billion.

Foresight operates from 12 offices across six countries in Europe and Australia with AUM of £12.2 billion*. Foresight Group Holdings Limited listed on the Main Market of the London Stock Exchange in February 2021. https://www.fsg-investors.com/

*Based on FSG unaudited AUM as at 30 June 2022 and Infrastructure Capital's AUM as at 31 March 2022.

 

 

About Impact Capital Group:

A dynamic prop-tech and design-led integrated Property and Construction Group founded by real estate entrepreneur Robert Whitton and managed by a highly experienced and passionate management team.

Impact is backed by a UK Family Office and Financial Institutions and currently has £100m equity commitment and an existing pipeline of developments with a potential GDV in excess of £1billion.

Impact Capital specialise in local smart home neighbourhood developments and regional scale regeneration schemes that create positive social and environmental impact.

The entire network of subsidiaries is underpinned by ESG values, with a mission to help address some of the great emergencies of our time, namely: housing, the environment, social cohesion, and wellness.

Visit www.impact-capital.co.uk for more information.

 

About Impact Lending:

Established in 2019 by property entrepreneur Robert Whitton and finance professional David Travers, the company is uniquely positioned as a principal lender offering secured lending and equity investment solutions for property professionals, with an acute focus on sustainable lending.

Sustainable loans include, Stretch Senior Sustainable, Mezzanine Sustainable, Land bridging 1st and 2nd charge, as well as Sustainable Equity whilst Traditional loans include Mezzanine finance, 1st and 2nd charge bridging.

Impact Lending is a part of Impact Capital Group, an umbrella of companies underpinned by ESG values, with a mission to address the great emergencies of our time including housing, the environment, social cohesion and wellness.

Visit www.impact-lending.co.uk for more information.