Ongo secure £50m to complete ambitious development programme

Ongo’s Corporate Plan sets out that they will build 2,250 new homes whilst investing in their existing stock over the next 10 years, and they have recently secured £50m from bLEND to ensure they have the funds to make this happen.

bLEND is a financial aggregator who provide bond finance to housing associations across the country and were selected as Ongo’s preferred partner to provide funding that brings additional long term certainty to their financial position.

This new borrowing will supplement the facilities that Ongo still has with Barclays, a lot of which has been in place since 2007. They have a great relationship which will continue, but we felt that the time was right to diversify who they partner with, to get the best long term funding deal.

Ongo has £155million in funding to ensure they have the finances to achieve goals set out within their Corporate Plan.

Ashley Harrison, Ongo’s Director of Resources and Commercial, said: “Our plan for building new homes is an ambitious one, so to have secured funding from bLEND will really help us to achieve it and provide over 2,000 homes for families in our local area.

“bLEND have been great to work with and have helped us secure a really competitive deal as the first piece of long term borrowing that Ongo have undertaken since our transfer in 2007. Their confidence in Ongo as a borrower is further proof of the strong financial and organisational position we are in, and this is a result of the great work that everyone at Ongo does day in, day out.

“These funds will allow us to press on with our development plans and the delivery of outstanding services to our tenants and communities, knowing that we have the financial capacity to do so secured for a number of year to come.”

Piers Williamson, CEO of bLEND, said “Ongo have been fantastic to work with and we are proud to be able to fund housing organisations, like Ongo, that focus on truly affordable rents and building vibrant communities.  We set up bLEND precisely to help housing associations access long-term funding without hassle or comprising on price.  We now have 14 borrowers in bLEND and with our existing pipeline we look forward to surpassing bLEND’s first £1Bn of issuance in the coming weeks.”

Bob Walder, Chair of our Partnership Board, said: “I’m delighted by the funding deal which is fixed for 33 years an excellent result for the business, and a big thank you to our team, involved members and our advisors.

“This is really exciting news for us as an organisation because it means we can carry on doing what we do best, supporting people and helping communities to thrive.”

To stay up to date as Ongo progress with their corporate plan and new homes, follow them on social media or check out their website.