M&G structured a landmark club deal with 17 participating housing associations, allowing the participants access to funding on terms and tenor largely unavailable to them before.

The club deal formed the significant portion of a major Welsh government housing initiative, that also included a £120m Housing Finance Grant payable over 30 years.

M&G’s deal allowed participants to choose a tenor ranging from 25 to 40 years, benefit from scale economies in legal fees, and select a repayment profile to suit their business plan.

With highly competitive interest and asset cover covenants, along with no gearing covenant, some participants took advantage of the more favourable terms offered with the deal to refinance existing debt.

Of most significance, the club deal allowed smaller housing associations access to capital markets, in some cases for amounts less than £2m.

Jane Hutt, Minister for Finance said at the launch in September 2013: “This scheme is a real example of what can be achieved when the public sector and private sector work together. Following the success of this initiative, I now hope we can use this type of funding to generate more investment in affordable housing."

Mark Davie, Head of Social Housing, M&G Investments, said: “This was a seminal deal for us, proving that social housing organisations of different size, need and ambition can work together to access the benefits of non-bank lending. M&G is quite unique in the social housing lending market to be able to deliver such a deal and it is a structure we are keen to explore in other areas of the UK.”