Newcore agrees £80m financing package with HSBC

Newcore Capital has secured a new £40m debt facility from HSBC UK. The new funding comprises a £20m senior loan and £20m revolving credit facility. It also carries a £40m uncommitted accordion option, subject to the lender’s discretion, which will lift the total facility size to £80m. Newcore plans to use the new funding to buy assets on behalf of its fifth closed-ended value-add fund, Newcore Special Situations V, which achieved a £190m final close in May last year and marks the manager’s largest capital raise to date. Investors in the fund included the Local Government Pension Scheme, a FTSE 100 corporate pension scheme and European institutions. Neil Sarkhel, chief operating officer at Newcore Capital, said: “The HSBC UK facility highlights the fact that mainstream lenders are increasingly comfortable with social infrastructure as an asset class. The funding from HSBC, combined with the equity raised last year, provides us with significant firepower to deploy into creating functional assets that enable the provision of services that are critical to the dignified and orderly running of UK society.”