Hedge fund Man Group buys 227 modular homes

Global hedge fund Man Group is to use modular housing to develop a 227-home site in Grantham, as it furthers its investment in the housing market.

The firm is to buy the 227 factory-built homes from modular manufacturer Ilke, in a £31m deal.

The scheme will see Man Group develop the 14.6-acre site in Dysart Road, Grantham with 140 homes for affordable rent, 47 for shared ownership and 40 homes for private sale. Ilke said that all homes at the Dysart Road site will exceed the environmental performance required by the government’s forthcoming Future Homes Standard.

Ilke claimed the deal represented the largest institutional deal for modular housing in the UK this year.

The deal follows on from the announcement by Man Group’s Global Private Markets (GPM) division last February of the creation of a Community Housing business in the UK, designed to deliver additional homes to help meet the need for 2.5 million more affordable homes over the next 15 years.

Man’s GPM division is an asset manager focused on private markets.

It did not say how many homes it wanted to build, but said its strategy was designed to “provide both financial and social returns”. Ilke’s executive chair, Dave Sheridan, sits on the advisory committee of the community housing business.

Matthew Bench, executive director of partnerships at ilke Homes, said the deal was “a huge vote of confidence in MMC from the institutional marketplace”.

Shamez Alibhai, head of community housing and portfolio manager at Man GPM, said: “This investment demonstrates that it is possible to deliver high quality housing, using state of the art construction methods while also creating homes that are affordable to local residents.”

“Delivering Ilke Homes modular housing to the Grantham site means we are not only building affordable homes but doing so in a way that also upholds our commitment to sustainable and energy-efficiency projects.”