Agenda item

Report of the CGO

The Board received the progress report of the Chief Grants Officer & Director of City Bridge Trust (CGO), introducing speakers from Social and Sustainable Capital and providing short updates on the wider review of Bridge House Estates, City Bridge Invest, the UN Sustainable Development Goals and Greenwich Leisure Limited.

The CGO introduced the report and advised that a substantive update on the wider review of Bridge House Estates would be submitted to Committees in the New Year. The CGO also advised of further work on City Bridge Invest and its possible alignment with UN Sustainable Development Goals, with a further report to be brought to the next Board meeting. The Chairman added that it would be ideal if matching objectives could be rolled into the Board’s investment strategy.

The CGO then drew Members’ attention to the information provided on Greenwich Leisure Limited. In response to a query from a Member, the CGO advised that specific concerns about the information reported could be investigated if Members wished, and picked up through the Board’s quarterly portfolio update report.

The Board then welcomed Ben Rick and Gilly Orr of Social and Sustainable Capital (SASC), to present an update on progress since the launch of the Social and Sustainable Housing Fund. The Board was thanked for its invitation and for its investment, which had catalysed a larger raise for the Fund. The Board was given a brief history of SASC and its work, before a summary of the Social and Sustainable Housing Fund.

The Housing Fund was felt to be a unique investment structure that enabled charities to purchase residential property and provide homes, whilst addressing the risks they found challenging when buying or renting property. It also gave the benefit of long-term asset ownership to organisations which were reliant on housing as integral to their support, and satisfied investors looking to maximise social impact, manage risk and achieve an appropriate level of return. The Fund targeted a specific borrower profile and had committed over £15 million across five organisations, with a pipeline to commit the remainder of the Fund by early 2020. Fundraising was ongoing after the first close of the Fund and SASC continued to work with investors, both new and existing, who were being encouraged to commit more funding in order to catalyse the next funding round.

In response to questions from Members, SASC advised that they were committed to fundraise until October 2021. The Board’s existing investment of £1 million had catalysed previous fundraising. Early stage backing from a well-known and respected investor made it easier to seek and agree further investments. SASC advised that the expected base return on the investment was around 5.8%, but should still be over 3% in a worst-case scenario. The average price of properties purchased nationwide had been around £100,000, but SASC tried to have a spread of geographical locations and unit sizes. SASC added that they would undertake as many closes as required and were working on a range of £10-30 million. A quarterly reporting pack would soon be available to the Board.

The Chairman thanked Ben Rick and Gilly Orr for their presentation and Members for their questions and discussion, and advised that the Board might anticipate a further investment proposal in the future.

RESOLVED – That the report be noted.