Two London-based housing associations, Catalyst and Aldwyck, have completed their merger creating a 32,000 home ‘super’ housing association in the process.
The merger, announced last September, will see Aldwyck and their current 9,000 homes become a subsidiary of Catalyst, which currently has 21,000 homes, and in a statement Catalyst said the groups will “integrate fully” over the coming months.
Ian McDermott, chief executive of Aldwyck had already moved across to become chief executive of Catalyst in January and the merger now means that the new housing association would have a turnover of £293m with an operating margin of 33%, a combined surplus of £76.7m and total loan facilities of more than £1.6bn, according to the most recent published accounts
The new housing association is already aiming high with a goal of building 1,300 homes a year across London and the Home Counties by 2022.
Pat Billingham, vice-chair of Catalyst and former chair of Aldwyck, said: “At a time when the housing crisis is almost daily headline news, our combined strength and expertise will enable us to fulfil our shared ambition to provide more homes to meet the housing need in our newly enlarged geographical area.”