Centrus and Anthony Collins advise Calico Homes on landmark debt restructure delivering annual interest savings of up to £564k and strengthened financial flexibility
Centrus Advisors, acting as treasury advisors, Anthony Collins Solicitors, as legal counsel, together with lending partners NatWest and Nationwide Building Society, are pleased to announce the successful completion of a comprehensive restructure of Calico Homes’ £149.5m bank debt portfolio.
The transaction involved the renegotiation and restatement of Calico’s existing facilities with both NatWest and Nationwide, delivering material improvements across pricing, covenant terms and portfolio longevity – providing the organisation with significant additional capacity to invest in homes and services for its residents across Burnley and the surrounding areas.
Key Benefits of the Transaction:
Significant Interest Savings: The restructure delivers annual interest savings of up to £564k, meaningfully reducing Calico’s cost of debt and freeing resources for reinvestment in its core social purpose.
Extended Portfolio Longevity: The weighted average life of the bank portfolio has been extended from 7 to 11 years, providing Calico with a longer-dated, more resilient funding platform and reducing near-term refinancing risk.
Covenant Reform and Enhanced Debt Capacity: Alignment of Calico’s gearing covenants has increased Calico’s available debt capacity by approximately 70% — providing materially greater financial headroom to support the delivery of new and improved homes.
Hedging Restructure: The transaction also saw the implementation of Calico’s first loan linked ISDA put in place with NatWest. A loan-linked ISDA structure was adopted to maximise flexibility and to enable the reinvestment of restructure break gains to minimise the impact of Calico fixed rates.
Centrus provided a fully integrated advisory service throughout the engagement, from the initial lender engagement strategy through to execution and documentation review. Centrus ran a competitive and structured process with both lenders, negotiating improvements across all key areas of the financing, and supported Calico’s Board and executive team throughout with regular briefings and governance support, including ISDA hedging training.
Anthony Collins Solicitors provided comprehensive legal counsel across both facility restatements, advising on all documentation and supporting the smooth completion of the transaction.
Tom Miller, Director at Centrus Advisors, said: “This is an excellent outcome for Calico and reflects the strength of the organisation’s relationships with its banking partners and its clear strategic direction. By running a structured and competitive engagement process, we were able to secure material improvements across every key metric – pricing, covenants, longevity and hedging structure. The aligning of gearing covenants  in particular is a transformational change, which alongside the material interest savings helps unlock additional capacity that Calico can deploy to continue delivering for its residents. We are proud to have supported the team at Calico through what was a complex and multi-faceted transaction.”
Chloe Christian, Executive Director of Finance at Calico Homes, said: “This restructure is an outstanding outcome for Calico and represents a significant step forward in strengthening our long-term financial resilience. The annual interest savings and materially enhanced debt capacity provide us with real additional firepower to invest in new and improved homes and services for our residents across Burnley and Lancashire – which is ultimately what drives everything we do. The support and advice we received from Centrus and Anthony Collins throughout the process was instrumental in achieving this result. They guided us through a complex, multi-faceted transaction with real clarity and ensured our Board were fully engaged and brought along on the journey at every stage, including through some technically challenging areas such as hedging strategy. We are also grateful to NatWest and Nationwide for their continued partnership and commitment to supporting Calico’s ambitions.”
Adriana Kliilncova, Legal Director at Anthony Collins Solicitors, said:
“These restatements are a fantastic result for Calico and a major step in strengthening their long‑term financial position with their existing funders and we are delighted to play our part in advising Calico alongside Centrus in securing this restructuring which allows Calico to invest even more in new and better homes and provide the required services for its residents, which is what drives us every day.
Martin Skinner, Relationship Director, Social Housing at NatWest, said:
“I am delighted to have worked with Calico Homes and Centrus to achieve this result. NatWest has a longstanding successful relationship with Calico and a collaborative approach to reach a solution for all parties is testament to that.
NatWest’s ongoing support will enable Calico to continue its long track record of serving the Burnley community and enable them to meet the essential requirement of developing new warm, safe and affordable homes.”
Steve Goodyer, Senior Relationship Manager at Nationwide Building Society, said:
“Nationwide is pleased to have supported Calico Homes on this important restructuring, which strengthens the organisation’s long-term financial resilience and provides greater capacity to invest in homes and services for its communities.
We are proud to be a long-standing funding partner to Calico, having supported the organisation since its inception in 2000. This enduring relationship reflects our continued commitment to the social housing sector and to working collaboratively with our borrowers to deliver sustainable, long-term outcomes.
This transaction demonstrates the value of strong partnerships in achieving financing solutions that enhance flexibility, improve efficiency and position organisations like Calico to continue delivering for their residents.”
About Calico Homes
Calico Homes is a 5,000-home housing association based in Burnley, Lancashire, providing affordable homes and a wide range of support services to residents across the region.
About Centrus Advisors
Centrus is a leading independent treasury and financial advisory firm specialising in the UK social housing and public sectors. Centrus advises housing associations, local authorities and other public bodies on treasury management, debt structuring, hedging, and fundraising. Centrus Financial Advisors Limited is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (Registration No. 750011).
About Anthony Collins Solicitors
Anthony Collins is a specialist social purpose law firm with deep expertise in the social housing sector, advising registered providers, housing associations, social enterprises and charities on all aspects of financing, governance and corporate law including in respect of debt advice, . capital markets transactions, bonds, private placements, property charging and development funding.
About NatWest
NatWest serves customers in England and Wales, supporting them with their personal, private, and business banking needs. NatWest helps customers at all stages in their lives, from opening student accounts, to buying their first home, setting up a business, and saving for retirement.
Alongside a wide range of banking services, NatWest offers businesses specialist sector knowledge in areas such as manufacturing and technology, as well as access to specialist entrepreneurial support.
About Nationwide Building Society
Nationwide is the world’s largest building society, with over 16 million members. Following its acquisition of Virgin Money UK PLC, Nationwide is connected with one in three people in the UK and is the second largest provider of mortgages and retail deposits. It is also a major provider of current accounts, credit cards, personal loans and business banking. Customers can choose to manage their finances in a branch, via mobile app, the internet, telephone, and post. Nationwide has around 25,000 employees and its head office is in Swindon, UK. As a financial services provider owned by its members, not shareholders, Nationwide’s purpose is: Banking –but fairer, more rewarding, and for the good of society. For more information see https://www.nationwide.co.uk/about-us/.