Dec. 05, 2023 at 12:19 pm

London CIV invests further £50m in affordable housing

December 5, 2023no commentNo tags

London CIV, the investment pool for 32 Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS) funds, has made a £50m investment into the Octopus Affordable Housing Fund (Octopus AHF).

London CIV invest £150m in affordable housing. Photo: Shutterstock

This latest move sees a total commitment of £150m in UK affordable housing by London CIV’s UK Housing Fund, following its first £100m investment with CBRE Investment Management in May.

Octopus Investment announced the first close of its fund on 5 December. The initial capital committed aims to build over 500 affordable family and older persons homes in the UK, with the fund’s overall target to deliver 5,000 homes over the next few years.

Dean Bowden, CEO at London CIV, said: “Following extensive due diligence and negotiations on behalf of our partners funds, we are excited for London CIV UK Housing Fund to partner with Octopus Investments and be an anchor investor in Octopus AHF.

“Private capital has a vital role to play in the affordable housing sector, and we are confident that Octopus AHF will deliver robust long-term returns for our partner funds, and through its impact framework accelerate the delivery of much-needed new and quality affordable homes.”

The fund provides co-investment opportunities for local authorities, LGPS funds and other locally interested investors. In addition, Octopus Investments’ registered provider of social housing, New Arch, has recently adopted the Sustainability Reporting Standard for Social Housing, allowing investors to understand the environmental, social and governance (ESG) impact of the fund.

Ed Clough, managing director at Octopus Real Estate, added: “We’re delighted to be working with London CIV whose values align with ours in delivering quality sustainable housing for all stages of a person’s life. Strong social outcomes are critical to the fund’s success: from the energy efficient homes we are looking to build, to our focus on true affordability of the fund’s homes.”