Greenham Trust secures £25m funding via private placement

Greenham Trust has raised £25m through a 25-year secured private placement with a single investor, it has announced. Independent financial risk advisory firm JCRA arranged the deal with Aberdeen Standard (ASI) on behalf of the Trust. Greenham Trust uses income generated from its asset portfolio to make charitable grants to organisations in West Berkshire and North Hampshire. Details of what it funds and how to apply are available on its site. To date, it has provided over £40m to a variety of causes and across almost 3,000 separate charities. It has grown revenues from under £0.5m per annum in 1997 to over £5.3m in 2018 through direct grants, matched funding, and online platform The Good Exchange. Proceeds of the Trust’s private placement will help fund the development of five new commercial properties on the Greenham business park site, as well as repaying existing bank loans. The deal was structured with a 19-year average life, which broadly matches the life of the underlying leases. Chris Boulton, Chief Executive of Greenham Trust and Greenham Business Park, said: “We are excited to have completed our inaugural private placement. This will enable the Trust to deliver an extensive development programme to accommodate both existing and new occupiers at Greenham Business Park. The aim is to create further charitable funds to distribute to the communities we support. JCRA were pivotal in advising the Trust on this transaction.” Adrian Bell, Director at JCRA, added: “We are delighted to arrange this private placement for Greenham. It provides the Charity with long-dated, low-cost funding, which allows it to embark on the next stage of its development.”    

from UK Fundraising http://bit.ly/2Hww39K