Modular housing specialist ilke Homes has raised £60m in a bid to become a top 10 housebuilder within the next five years.
The funding was split between £30m in debt from government agency Homes England and £30m of equity from multiple new investors, and serves to help ilke Homes achieve its goal of delivering 10,000 factory-built homes per year.
Affordable housing provider The Guinness Partnership is an equity investor and a customer of ilke Homes, having signed two deals in the last year for sites that will deliver 250 factory-built homes.
Ilke’s main investor, TDR Capital, has also injected additional equity, supported by Middleton Enterprises and private equity firm Sun Capital taking equity stakes.
The £30m debt facility from Homes England’s Home Building Fund follows a previous £30m investment in 2019.
The initial funding marked the first time Homes England had ever directly invested to boost an offsite manufacturer’s production capacity.
‘Green industrial revolution’
Commenting on this latest funding, Harry Swales, chief investment officer at Homes England, said: “Manufacturers like ilke Homes are vital if developers are to build new sustainable homes at the pace and scale the country needs.
“This debt facility from the Home Building Fund shows our commitment in increasing productivity and efficiency in construction to meet government’s housing delivery ambitions.”
Stephen Stone, a board member of ilke Homes, said: “This announcement proves that there is a shared ambition among the public and private sectors to find innovative solutions to structural issues that have dogged the construction and housebuilding industries for decades.
“This new funding will help us create hundreds more highly-skilled, green jobs for an economy that is gearing up for a Green industrial revolution.”
Image: ilke Homes’ modules being lifted into place
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