TIDM56TE

RNS Number : 7230S

Sovereign Housing Capital Plc

13 March 2023

Sovereign Housing Association Limited and Network Homes Limited enter merger talks

The boards of Sovereign Housing Association Limited and Network Homes Limited have agreed to enter into formal negotiations with a view to joining together in a merger.

The decision was agreed by their respective boards on Thursday 9 March. The target date for the completion of the merger is 1 October 2023. The new organisation, Sovereign Network Group, will be one of the largest housing associations in the UK, with over 82,000 homes across the South of England and in London.

Under the proposals, the new organisation will initially take the form of a group structure with Sovereign being the parent (renamed Sovereign Network Group) and Network Homes the subsidiary (renamed Sovereign Network Homes), with a view to full amalgamation happening in April 2025.

Sovereign Network Group will have an annual income of over GBP830m in 2024-5 and will invest GBP9.2bn over the next ten years, building 25,000 new homes - almost 4,000 more than current plans, as well as regenerating estates and improving the quality of existing homes. They have also pledged to establish a new Community Foundation to invest GBP100m in communities over a ten-year period.

The new organisation, Sovereign Network Group, will be one of the largest housing associations in the UK, with over 82,000 homes across the South of England and in London. Subject to a formal appointment process, it is expected that Mark Washer, CEO at Sovereign will become the Chief Executive and Helen Evans, currently CEO of Network Homes, will become Deputy Chief Executive. Sovereign Chair Paul Massara will become Chair of Sovereign Network Group and interim Chair at Network Homes, Jon Gooding, will become Deputy Chair. The partnership will be subject to registration by the Financial Conduct Authority, which is currently expected to be around September 2023.

The merger comes at a time when housing associations are facing a challenging economic outlook with rising costs affecting their supply chains and their rents capped by government. At the same time, social housing tenants face high energy and food bills and there is chronic shortage of affordable homes. According to their business plan, together Sovereign and Network Homes will be well-placed to weather the economic storms and to continue to invest in building safety, technology to improve customer experience and decarbonisation. The new organisation will be committed to be Net Zero by 2050.

Sovereign Housing Association Limited is registered as a charitable community benefit society under the Co-operative and Community Benefit Societies Act 2014 with registered number 7561 and as a Registered Provider with the Social Housing Regulator with registered number 4851.

Sovereign Housing Capital Plc (registered company number 06992513) is a wholly owned subsidiary of Sovereign Housing Association Limited.

Network Homes Limited is registered as a charitable community benefit society under the Co-operative and Community Benefit Societies Act 2014 with registered number 7326 and as a Registered Provider with the Social Housing Regulator with registered number 4825.

ENDS

For more information, please contact:

Graeme Gilbert, Treasury Director, Sovereign Housing Association 07392130856 Graeme.Gilbert@Sovereign.org.uk

Charles Pitt, Corporate Affairs Director, Sovereign Housing Association

07887524378 Charles.Pitt@Sovereign.org.uk

Disclaimer The information contained herein (the "Trading Update") has been prepared by Sovereign Housing Association Limited (the "Parent") and its subsidiaries (the "Group"), including Sovereign Advances Ltd, Sovereign Housing Capital PLC (the "Issuers") and is for information purposes only.

The Trading Update should not be construed as an offer or solicitation to buy or sell any securities issued by the Parent, the Issuers or any other member of the Group, or any interest in any such securities, and nothing herein should be construed as a recommendation or advice to invest in any such securities.

Statements in the Trading Update, including those regarding possible or assumed future or other performance of the Group as a whole or any member of it, industry growth or other trend projections may constitute forward-looking statements and as such involve risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results, performance or developments to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Accordingly, no assurance is given that such forward-looking statements will prove to have been correct. They speak only as at the date of the Trading Update and neither the Parent nor any other member of the Group undertakes any obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future developments, occurrence of unanticipated events or otherwise.

None of the Parent, any member of the Group or anyone else is under any obligation to update or keep current the information contained in the Trading Update. The information in the Trading Update is subject to verification, does not purport to be comprehensive, is provided as at the date of the Trading Update and is subject to change without notice.

No reliance should be placed on the information or any projections, targets, estimates or forecasts and nothing in the Trading Update is or should be relied on as a promise or representation as to the future. No statement in the Trading Update is intended to be an estimate or forecast. No representation or warranty, express or implied, is given by or on behalf of the Parent, any other member of the Group or any of their respective directors, officers, employees, advisers, agents or any other persons as to the accuracy or validity of the information or opinions contained in the Trading Update (and whether any information has been omitted from the Trading Update). The Trading Update does not constitute legal, tax, accounting or investment advice.

www.sovereign.org.uk/investors

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END

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March 13, 2023 03:33 ET (07:33 GMT)

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