The Aspire Group has secured £28m of additional funding
for ambitious expansion plans to offer new services and provide 300
more properties over the next four years.
The Group comprises housing association Aspire Housing, along
with social enterprise training and skills provider PM Training and
regeneration charity The Realise Foundation.
And the £28m loan - borrowed from supporting banks
Barclays and Lloyds TSB - will be used to ensure the Group's
continued expansion, with the acquisition of several businesses in
North Staffordshire in the coming months.
The cash injection will also be used to build and acquire more
than 300 affordable new properties across the region over the next
four years.
The funding, which is in addition to the Aspire Group's existing
£112.5m loan, will also allow Aspire Housing to continue to
improve services and maintain its 8,400 homes to a standard agreed
with customers. This "Aspire Standard" is above the minimum "decent
homes standard".
Sinéad Butters, Aspire Group chief executive, said: "The
group is very much a business with a social ethos, committed to
creating prosperous communities in North Staffordshire - and with
the new investment, we are well placed to continue to achieve this
over the next four years.
"We are particularly excited about the possibility of acquiring
new businesses and expanding the range of services that we
offer.
"However, we are also fully committed to our core business of
housing and we are planning to build and acquire much-needed
affordable homes for the region.
"The funding will allow us to push ahead with our ambitious
development programme while continuing to invest and improve in
services for our existing 20,000 customers.
"The tough economic situation proved no barrier to us delivering
multi-million pound regeneration projects at Ingestre Square and
Lymebrook Way recently.
"By securing this investment and working with our partners and
funders we will be able to continue this growth over the coming
years."
Aspire Housing provides around 20,000 customers with quality
affordable homes and services in North Staffordshire, while PM
Training offers training and employment opportunities for more than
1,000 young people a year.
PM Training's profits are reinvested into North Staffordshire
through The Realise Foundation charity, which supports
apprenticeships, lifelong learning and improves the
environment.